Who starts for Kentucky? Mark Pope now has options, thanks to Milan Momcilovic
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Momcilovic's commitment immediately vaulted Kentucky into the Top 25 preseason rankings.
- Momcilovic, Diallo and Moreno are projected as likely starters.
- Kentucky’s projected starters boast scoring but could struggle to rebound effectively.
Don’t begin projecting starting lineups before your team’s roster is complete.
For some Kentucky basketball fans, that’s an impossible task, and it led to quite a bit of consternation over the past few weeks as Mark Pope missed on big names and roster-building season neared its end with the Cats absent from the national rankings.
When this week began, UK’s most likely starting five for the 2026-27 season appeared to be the combination of Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Kam Williams, Ousmane N’Diaye and Malachi Moreno.
There’s a lot of upside there, for sure. There’s also a lot of uncertainty, and Pope would have needed each of those players to take a considerable step forward in his development while meshing well as a unit and getting some major help from the corps of reserves.
Enter Milan Momcilovic, and the entire outlook changes.
Momcilovic — a 6-foot-8 forward and one of the most proven offensive players in the country — committed to the Cats on Monday night, immediately vaulting Pope’s team into the Top 25 preseason rankings and giving the UK coach an abundance of options as he enters a pivotal Year 3 on the job.
Momcilovic, who was the top 3-point shooter in college basketball last season, will undoubtedly be in Pope’s starting five. So will returning center Malachi Moreno, who turned down a potential first-round spot in this year’s NBA draft for another year in Lexington. And it would be a shocker if Washington transfer Zoom Diallo isn’t Pope’s starting point guard come November.
So, that’s three spots already spoken for with summer practice set to begin in less than two weeks. Who will fill out the rest of the starting lineup? Here’s a look at the possibilities.
A Kentucky 3-point attack
The lineup: Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Kam Williams, Milan Momcilovic and Malachi Moreno.
The pitch: From an offensive perspective, this would be pure entertainment.
Let’s be clear: Kentucky’s 2026-27 roster, as it’s currently constructed, is unlikely to be a defensive juggernaut. Pope attempted to go that route last season, and while those Cats formed a better defensive unit than Pope’s group in Year 1, it was far from the top-10 national defense the UK coach envisioned when putting the team together.
The 2026-27 Cats appear to be built more similarly to the first Pope team, which finished No. 10 nationally in offensive efficiency and surely would have ended up even higher if not for some key injuries. Kentucky fans who fell in love with Pope’s playing style toward the end of his BYU tenure should look at this potential starting five and salivate.
This group would feature two “creators” — the buzz word of Pope’s offseason — in Diallo and Wilkins, two potentially elite, floor-spacing perimeter shooters in Momcilovic and Williams, as well as a 5 man (Moreno) eager and able to keep the offense moving.
Pope has said he wants to try again for 30 3-point attempts per game this season. This group would likely let it fly from the opening tip. With the ability of Diallo and Wilkins to get downhill and make things happen, the threat of Momcilovic and Williams on the wings and the presence of Moreno as a creative, unselfish big, the Cats would be a handful for even the best defenses.
The problem? In addition to defense, which, again, will be a blanket concern across all of these lineup options, this particular group could struggle mightily on the boards.
Rebounding (particularly, offensive rebounding) was a problem for Pope’s first team in Lexington, and the UK coach has lamented on several occasions over his two years on the job that his squad was falling short on the boards. Those struggles are an especially sore subject in a system that needs some level of offensive rebounding to get the second-chance opportunities (particularly potential kickouts for open 3s after a miss) necessary to maximize scoring potential.
Diallo and Wilkins averaged a combined 5.9 rebounds per game last season, despite playing about 30 minutes per game apiece. Williams averaged 2.1 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game in his first season at the high-major level. Momcilovic averaged just 3.1 rebounds per game as a junior.
Moreno led the Cats with 6.3 rebounds per game as a freshman, and his strength and physicality should improve as a sophomore, but he’ll need help on the boards. There wouldn’t be much of it with this group.
Pope goes big in Year 3
The lineup: Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Milan Momcilovic, Ousmane N’Diaye and Malachi Moreno.
The pitch: Here’s a way to alleviate some of those potential rebounding issues while still putting a dynamic group on the court to start games. And while the flow would look different, this five would be plenty entertaining, too.
N’Diaye — a 6-11 forward from Senegal, by way of the top professional league in Italy — might be the most intriguing Kentucky player on a roster filled with them. He averaged 6.8 rebounds in 27.2 minutes per game in Italy this past season, and his length and athleticism would play well at the 4 while pushing the 6-8 Momcilovic to the 3 in this scenario.
Highly effective as a rim-runner — simply hit YouTube for some game video to back that up — N’Diaye would give the Cats an abundance of fast-break options with his ability to get down the court quickly coupled with the two guards pushing the ball and Momcilovic’s dangerous presence as a 3-point shooter trailing the play in transition.
While Pope called Williams, who takes a seat in this lineup, his most effective defender at various times last season, N’Diaye is an interesting talent on that side of the ball, though he isn’t projected to be a particularly physical player and hasn’t yet shown the ability to be a true shot-blocking threat.
But it’s difficult to look past that size, length and athleticism, especially against UK’s marquee nonconference foes and what should be another grueling 18-game SEC schedule.
The problem? Obviously, the five on the floor for Kentucky will be a constantly changing dynamic once Pope starts making his in-game substitutions. But removing Williams from the equation takes away a key piece from what should be UK’s biggest weapon: scoring.
With Williams and Momcilovic on the court together, defenses are likely to remain in a state of discombobulation, especially if Diallo and Wilkins can clean up some of their turnover issues.
And while it will be difficult for Momcilovic to improve on his 48.7% shooting number from 3-point range, Williams is certainly capable of doing better than his 35.9% showing last season. (He shot 41.2% from deep at a considerably higher volume as a freshman at Tulane.)
Given the slow starts and resulting deficits that UK so often endured last season, Pope will surely want to begin games with more scoring punch this time around.
And, make no mistake, N’Diaye could be a 3-point threat. He’s a willing shooter (5.0 long-range attempts per game last season) but he shot just 30.5% from beyond the arc in the Italian pro league, often settling for incredibly deep and/or wild looking attempts. It’s certainly possible that rate improves with a better shot selection, but it would be stunning if he hits at a higher rate than Williams next season.
An even bigger UK lineup
The lineup: Zoom Diallo, Kam Williams, Milan Momcilovic, Ousmane N’Diaye and Malachi Moreno.
The pitch: If you’re going to go big, why not go even bigger and get your top 3-point threats on the floor at the same time?
“Positions” have slowly faded away in basketball, but if a player’s spot in the lineup correlates to who he can guard on the other end, there’s no reason to think Williams can’t be considered a 2 against many opponents, given his versatility as a defender.
This lineup would have the Cats at 6-4, 6-8, 6-8, 6-11 and 7-0 to start games. That would be interesting. There are also plenty of smart basketball people who love Wilkins as a prospect but wonder if he’ll be up to the task of “starter-level” player at UK after one season at Furman, where he struggled mightily with turnovers and decision-making as the focal point of opposing defenses.
In a recent interview with the Herald-Leader, 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham floated the idea of Wilkins as the primary backup to Diallo, with the potential of playing those two together in spots as the game wore on.
“I think that would be a great situation for Kentucky and a great situation for Alex Wilkins,” Branham said. “It gives him time to get his feet settled at a program like Kentucky, not playing extended minutes and a significant role. But he also has that versatility where you’re going to find extra minutes for him, because of the versatility he brings to the floor with his size, his length and athleticism. I think that would be a great scenario for both parties.”
Branham made clear that he thinks Wilkins could be a star down the road, but he questioned whether the sophomore, who’s listed at 6-5 and 175 pounds but might be even lighter than that, would be ready to match the physicality he’ll see at the SEC level this coming season.
“The talent is all there,” Branham said. “It’s just a matter of getting his body right and continuing to develop his game.”
The problem? If you listened to Pope speak in the immediate aftermath of Kentucky’s loss to Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, you haven’t forgotten about creators. As in, Pope wants them. And he wants them on the floor at the same time.
He followed through on that promise by landing Diallo and Wilkins fairly quickly in the transfer portal, and it would be a bit of a surprise if he didn’t try and turn them loose as a tandem, especially as a way to open up the floor even more for guys like Momcilovic and Williams.
Wilkins averaged 3.8 turnovers per game last season — fourth highest in the country — but he did that as a freshman with a major offensive load on his shoulders and the full focus of the opposing defense every time he stepped on the court. He’ll have much more help as a Wildcat, and he’ll be playing a different kind of role, too, especially when Diallo is out there with him.
Williams wants to improve as a player who can create scoring opportunities for himself, but he hasn’t shown it yet. Momcilovic can get to the midrange and score, but he’s not anywhere close to the type of downhill drive-and-kick player that Diallo and Wilkins should be. N’Diaye isn’t that guy either.
Bringing Wilkins off the bench would make for a particularly big starting five, but it would also limit the promise of what Pope said would be a major roster-building priority: finding creators.
He’s found a couple of potentially great ones. It makes sense that he’d play them together.
Other UK starting lineup combos
What if Pope’s eventual lineup is something else altogether? That’s possible, too.
Throwing it back to that original disclaimer — don’t project a starting five before the roster is complete — it’s worth noting that Kentucky might not be done adding to its 2026-27 roster.
As soon as Momcilovic committed to the Cats on Monday night, the buzz began to spread that UK was still looking for one more piece to its puzzle for next season. The speculation behind the scenes centers on the possibility of adding another guard, particularly a player with some size, strength and ability to impact the game immediately.
If Pope can find the right fit — either through an international addition or a late reclassification from the 2027 high school class — it could be a player capable of claiming that 2 spot in the starting five.
In the case that Pope chooses to go with one of the bigger lineups, perhaps James Madison transfer Justin McBride could earn a starting spot in place of N’Diaye, who is 22 years old but remains a mystery at the NCAA level.
McBride was listed at 6-7 and 240 pounds last season. He averaged 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 40.0% from 3-point range and projects as a high-floor addition to Pope’s frontcourt.
And though it seems unlikely that Braydon Hawthorne would start over fellow returnee Williams at the wing, it’s not a scenario that can be completely discounted after Kentucky’s coaches and players spent last season gushing about the 6-8 redshirt freshman and his potential to be a college star.
Whatever ends up happening once the regular season begins, Pope goes into the summer with plenty of options. That wasn’t the case before Momcilovic committed to the Cats.
