Milan Momcilovic commits to Kentucky: Mark Pope salvages his offseason by landing last big transfer available

The final significant transfer decision of this frenzied college basketball offseason materialized Monday evening in a choice that came down to two power programs from the same state battling for the best shooter in the sport.

Former Iowa State Cyclone Milan Momcilovic has committed to Kentucky, he announced on Instagram, giving the Wildcats one of college hoops’ most coveted free agents — and vaulting their ceiling in the process. The 6-foot-8 forward from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, averaged 16.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and shot 48.7% from 3-point range last season. Momcilovic was the second most accurate 3-point shooter in the sport and a major facet of the Cyclones’ 29-win season; he also earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors.

The 21-year-old ranks No. 2 in our top 100 list of the best transfers in the 2026 cycle.

Momcilovic’s Big Blue pick is all the more sweet for UK and its fans because of the school that came in second: Louisville. A week ago, Momcilovic had four programs in pursuit as he weighed whether to stay in the NBA Draft. Last Wednesday he opted to return to college even with a second-round promise on the table, one source said. At that point Kentucky and Louisville were in the lead, with Arizona and St. John’s also in the mix. But St. John’s soon removed itself from the situation when former Baylor forward Tounde Yessoufou publicly committed to Rick Pitino’s program less than an hour after the NCAA’s draft deadline passed. (Like Momcilovic, Yessoufou was viewed as a fringe first-round pick.) 

Momcilovic’s list went from four to three, with Arizona eventually falling to the wayside because the Wildcats did not have the financial package to compete with Kentucky and Louisville, sources said, effectively making the courtship a two-school race over the weekend. Momcilovic’s NIL deal is in the neighborhood of $6 million, sources told CBS Sports, making him one of college basketball’s three or four highest paid players next season.

Louisville pushed hard in the final 48 hours to land one more piece that would’ve spiked the Cards to preseason top-five status, but Pat Kelsey’s program is hardly hurting here. Louisville already has a preseason top-15 team thanks to investing somewhere north of $20 million on a roster that includes former Kansas big Flory Bidunga (the No. 1 transfer player in 2026), former Oregon combo guard Jackson Shelstad (18th), former Arkansas wing Karter Knox (59th) and incoming five-star center Obinna Ekezie Jr.

Momcilovic saves Pope’s offseason — and maybe his job

There is no sugar-coating just how important this decision was for Mark Pope. The third-year Kentucky coach has been battling a PR problem with a decent portion of Big Blue Nation after a string of recruiting misses led to some understandable anxiety amongst many Kentucky supporters, if not the staff as well.

Until the past eight days, Kentucky’s offseason was problematic to say the least. After spending somewhere in the realm of $20 million last season, Pope took heat from the sport’s most online fan base when UK was blown out out of the second round of the NCAA tourney by none other than the Iowa State team Momcilovic played for. Pope is 46-26 in two seasons with a 3-2 NCAA Tournament record. It speaks to the expectation level in Lexington that, despite a solid two-year debut at his alma mater, he’s still considered hot-seat material heading into Year 3. 

To get a better understanding of why that is, remember how high the standard is in Lexington. Kentucky last made the Elite Eight in 2019. The earliest it could make a run that deep again, of course, is 2027. That’s eight years, at least, without an Elite Eight showing. 

It’s the longest gap between Elite Eight appearances in the history of Kentucky basketball, dating back to the start of the NCAA Tournament in 1939.

When you factor in the tens of millions being poured into the roster, the stress and expectation levels spike. No job matches the pressure cooker that is Kentucky. 

UK fans waited more than two months since the end of the 2025-26 season to rejoice over a bona fide blue-chip commitment; Momcilovic is the only high-profile player to pick Kentucky this offseason. Pope and his staff had tried but missed on many a desirable target, most notably the No. 1 overall prospect in the class of 2026, Tyran Stokes, who will play at Kansas next year. There were also transfer misses on Rob Wright III (who returned to BYU), Donnie Freeman (Syracuse to St. John’s), Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame to Tennessee) and others.

That string of recruiting misses was literally impossible under John Calipari. 

It was crucial for Pope to deliver some hope, and that hope is now on its way to UK in the form of a small forward who had a 136.9 offensive rating last season, good for 10th-best in college basketball. Momcilovic finally gives some credence to Kentucky’s claim for preseason Top 25 status. In fact, his pledge bookends a vital eight-day span that has altered Kentucky’s outlook so much for the better in 2026-27. The first hit of good news came May 24, when UK big Malachi Moreno announced he would return after experimenting with leaving for the NBA following a promising pre-draft process. Moreno’s decision was no shocker, but his exploration led to, at the very least, some extended uncertainty. Moreno coming back was vital to Kentucky’s prospects next season.

Even with him back in the fold, Pope still needed one more good player to bolster a roster that could compete for top-five status in a stacked SEC.

Momcilovic moves that needle.

What Momcilovic brings to Kentucky

He is a career 42.7% 3-point shooter, doing so in an Iowa State scheme that was not built around his game. Pope’s game plan is more offense-oriented than defense-leaning — he’s had a top-15 per-possession offense three times, including his first season at Kentucky — so Momcilovic should be a guy geared and wired to set career highs in scoring, 3-point attempts and usage rates. With Moreno loading as one of the best sophomores in college basketball and Momcilovic poised to again be a long-range sniper, Kentucky should have a shot to improve on last season, when it finished 29th at KenPom with a 22-14 record and tied for seventh in the SEC.

Momcilovic and Moreno will command more than $10 million in salary next season, but Kentucky now has a roster that will satiate the fan base until the games are played in November. Portal-wise, Zoom Diallo (Washington) and Alex Wilkins (Furman) will be combo guards who share ball-control duty. They’ll be the in starting lineup along with Moreno and Momcilovic. The fifth spot seems most likely to go to returning junior forward Kam Williams. 

Elsewhere, Kentucky also brought in power foward Justin McBride from James Madison, in addition to returning junior guard Trent Noah, sophomore wing Braydon Hawthorne and redshirt junior center Reece Potter. There are only two inbound high school commits, neither of whom is a top-100 player.

Is it enough to contend to win the SEC? At this point, it doesn’t quite look like it. Florida, Tennessee, Texas and Arkansas all have rosters that bring in Final Four anticipation. But Kentucky should now be a viable factor. It should be a fun team that’s got the capability to easily qualify for the NCAA Tournament. 

You couldn’t say that two weeks ago.

Most importantly, Momcilovic going to Kentucky means Pope avoided an offseason catastrophe of whiffing. Had the hated rival up the road won out, it might’ve been the decision that doomed Pope’s tenure at his alma mater. Instead, all is well for the next five months in Lexington.