This year’s intense college basketball transfer season concluded with a decisive move on Monday evening. The final major transfer decision came down to two rival powerhouses from the same state, both vying for the sport’s top shooter.
Milan Momcilovic, who previously played for Iowa State, announced via Instagram his commitment to Kentucky. This decision positions the Wildcats as a formidable contender in college basketball. The 6-foot-8 forward from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, posted impressive stats last season, averaging 16.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and shooting an impressive 48.7% from beyond the arc. Momcilovic ranked as the second-best three-point shooter in the nation, playing a crucial role in the Cyclones’ 29-win season and earning All-Big 12 Second Team accolades.
The 21-year-old standout holds the No. 2 spot on our top 100 list of the best transfers for the 2026 cycle.
Kentucky’s victory in securing Momcilovic is particularly satisfying for its supporters, given that Louisville was the runner-up. Initially, Momcilovic had four schools vying for his commitment as he deliberated over remaining in the NBA Draft. Last Wednesday, he chose to return to college, despite having a second-round draft promise, according to a source. At that time, Kentucky and Louisville were leading contenders, with Arizona and St. John’s also in the mix. However, St. John’s withdrew from contention after former Baylor forward Tounde Yessoufou committed to their program shortly after the NCAA’s draft deadline. Like Momcilovic, Yessoufou was seen as a potential late first-round pick.
With St. John’s out, his choices narrowed to three, but Arizona eventually dropped out due to an inability to offer a competitive financial package compared to Kentucky and Louisville. This left the stage set for a weekend showdown between the two schools. Sources indicated that Momcilovic’s NIL deal is approximately $6 million, placing him among the highest earners in college basketball for the upcoming season.
Louisville made a strong push in the final 48 hours to add Momcilovic to their roster, which could have propelled them into a preseason top-five ranking. Nevertheless, Pat Kelsey’s program remains in a strong position. Louisville’s roster, valued at over $20 million, includes top talent such as former Kansas player Flory Bidunga, the No. 1 transfer player for 2026, ex-Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad (ranked 18th), former Arkansas wing Karter Knox (ranked 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.
Milan Momcilovic withdraws from NBA Draft: Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona pursuing Iowa State star
Isaac Trotter
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.
