Milan Momcilovic was immediately dubbed Kentucky's go-to guy upon his transferring to Lexington; it'd be hard to put the best three-point shooter in the nation anywhere but the crown of your offense. And now that Mark Pope has his primary weapon, the rest of the nation is starting to take notice.
CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, in a series of preseason predictions and nods, posted his All-SEC Preseason First-Team on X, assembling a lineup of five of the expected best players in the conference. Momcilovic, unsurprisingly, makes the cut at the four spot alongside four usual SEC suspects.
Being the only newcomer on the list, Momcilovic already finding his way into such an honor - even if it is just an insider's best guess - should serve as an early warning to a conference that Kentucky will be moving a little different this year.
With Momcilovic at the forefront of his operation, Coach Pope is expected to go for a full-on revival of his three-point-first offense. If No. 22 is operating as expected, the rest of the SEC will have to get reacquainted with the Wildcats, and fast.
All-SEC Preseason First-Team. pic.twitter.com/n6UJHm5VUr
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 1, 2026
An Early Warning to the SEC
To be fair, the rest of the most competitive conference in college basketball can't be blamed for falling asleep on the blue and white last season. The 14-loss, 2025-26 Cats suffered countless injuries; and when it wasn't the injuries, it was dudes outright looking like they didn't want to be out there.
That was a surefire step back for the Pope regime, but he's quickly pivoted and put together a team worthy of national attention with a player at the forefront that likely could've gotten paid anywhere. But Momcilovic is in Lexington because the fit makes far too much sense.
The five-star forward will be plugged into a lineup that was built around his position. Where Tyran Stokes was initially supposed to come in and plug that scoring hole, an even better (if less athletic) scorer has taken his place.
Getting Scary Fast
This is a Kentucky team that will live and die by Momcilovic's three-ball, but it won't be as easy as simply locking him up. SEC opponents will have to grapple with two esteemed playmakers in the backcourt, in Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins, as well as one of the more experienced secondary rotations in Power 5 college hoops.
That's bound to get complicated, and scary, fast. If Momcilovic comes close to his 48.7% clip from range last season, Kentucky will be an extremely difficult team to beat. This is especially because Pope wants the seasoned scorer to bring his average attempts all the way up to 10.
4-5 threes per game from Momcilovic would be enough to topple just about anybody, assuming the rest of the team is even half as good as advertised. The Cats have the makings of a fast-riser in a conference that has been without a real blue and white presence for far too long.
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