The college basketball offseason has been a wild one for the Kentucky Wildcats this year. Massive change has occurred for Big Blue Nation, with head coach John Calipari departing to take over the same position at Arkansas.
Replacing Calipair on the sidelines for the Kentucky Wildcats is former player, Mark Pope. Pope has spent the last five seasons at BYU, leading them to 20+ wins in four out of five campaigns.
With the current landscape of college basketball, the Kentucky roster was going to see some massive changes. Players hit the transfer portal regularly now, seeking out the best NIL deals. With a head coaching change, even more players were going to look to leave, and the Wildcats had several players enter the 2024 NBA Draft.
As a result, Pope and his staff had to work quickly to round out the roster and fill the holes. Nine players have left from last season’s team, but the new staff has done a great job of adding talent to the mix.
Seven transfers have already committed to the Wildcats, but they may not be done adding players to the mix. According to Jacob Polacheck of KSR, via Wildcats Today on Fan Nation, Kentucky is hosting talented forward Ansley Almonor, formerly of Farleigh Dickinson.
Almonor has been meeting with the coaching staff via video calls and is set to take an official visit to Lexington on Tuesday. He would fit the mold of the players Pope has been targeting this offseason.
At BYU, his offensive system was predicated on spacing and shooting 3-pointers. Last season, Almonor shot 39.4 percent from 3-point range, averaging 16.4 points per game to go along with 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
A starting spot may be hard for Almonor to come by with Kentucky, but he would be a nice addition to this roster coming off the bench. He would provide the team with another seasoned veteran capable of stepping up and leading the offense on any given night, giving Pope a deep, versatile attack on that end of the court.
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