Milan Momcilovic Just Picked Kentucky. Why It’s the Biggest Transfer Portal Move of the Year
Mark Pope just landed the biggest fish in the transfer portal. Milan Momcilovic is going to Kentucky, and the Wildcats are now a real Final Four threat.
The 6’8 forward from Iowa State announced his commitment Monday after a recruiting saga that stretched over a month. Kentucky beat out Duke, North Carolina, and Indiana for his services, and the move instantly makes the Wildcats a top-five team in early 2026-27 preseason polls.
This is the kind of swing Kentucky needed. Pope was hired last year as the replacement for John Calipari, and his first season was respectable but not great. The Wildcats finished 22-13 and bowed out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The fan base is still adjusting to the post-Cal era, and Pope needed a statement portal win.
He got one.
Momcilovic averaged 16.9 points per game last season as a junior at Iowa State while leading the nation in three-point shooting at 48.7 percent. That number is absurd. NBA scouts have him projected as a likely first-round pick in 2027 because the shooting translates and the size is real.
He is exactly the player Mark Pope’s offense is built around. Pope runs a free-flowing motion offense that prioritizes shooting, ball movement, and skilled forwards who can play multiple positions. Momcilovic is the dream archetype for that system.
The fit is so clean that some analysts are projecting Kentucky as the SEC favorite next season. The Wildcats already had a strong returning core in guard Otega Oweh and forward Brandon Garrison. Add Momcilovic, plus another transfer addition from the spring, and you have a Final Four roster.
The portal landscape this year has been weird. The top players moved fast in April. Then the market dried up. Then the wave of late commitments started. Momcilovic was the biggest holdout, and his decision will reshape the second wave of the portal.
Iowa State fans have to be hurting. Coach T.J. Otzelberger built Momcilovic into a star, and the Cyclones now lose their best player to a Power Four rival. That is the new reality of college basketball. The smaller schools develop talent. The bigger schools poach it. There is no loyalty mechanism that prevents this from happening.
The NIL piece of this matters too. Kentucky reportedly offered Momcilovic a deal worth well over $2 million for next season, which is in the top tier of college basketball NIL deals. Iowa State could not match. Few schools could.
The other domino effect is what Duke and Indiana do now. Both schools were heavily in on Momcilovic and have to pivot. Duke has the resources to chase another top forward. Indiana has new coach Mike Woodson trying to rebuild a roster that has not been competitive in years.
For Kentucky, the bigger picture is that Pope is establishing himself. Year one was about survival. Year two will be about expectations. The Wildcats fan base has been patient with the transition from the Calipari era, but the patience has limits.
Milan Momcilovic just bought Pope another season of goodwill. If Kentucky goes to the Final Four next March, this is the move that started it.
The portal era is changing college basketball. Mark Pope is learning to work it. The Wildcats are back in the conversation.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
