There’s renewed NCAA transfer portal interest for Mark Pope’s Kentucky basketball program.

The NBA draft withdrawal deadline was Wednesday night, and one specific stay-or-go decision panned out well for the Cats.

Iowa State junior forward Milan Momcilovic pulled his name out of the draft and will return to college basketball for his senior year. But, the 6-foot-8 Momcilovic likely won’t be doing so with the Cyclones. He entered the transfer portal in April and is now expected to find a new college home for the 2026-27 season.

Momcilovic is now the top target for Kentucky as Pope looks to add star power and shooting prowess to his roster for next season. But Momcilovic wasn’t the only major stay-or-go decision that occurred earlier this week.

Here’s what the transfer portal landscape now looks like, and what it means for UK basketball.

Milan Momcilovic is the top available transfer in college basketball

Momcilovic’s status as the top-ranked college basketball transfer still available is well-earned.

This past season with the Cyclones, Momcilovic emerged as the top 3-point shooter in the sport.

The 21-year-old led the country in both 3-point percentage (48.7%) and total 3-pointers made (136) during the 2025-26 season. UK got an up-close look at Momcilovic’s skill when he went for 20 points (with four made 3-pointers) and five rebounds as Iowa State eliminated Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Momcilovic — who averaged 16.9 points per game as a junior at Iowa State — was hoping to secure a first-round guarantee for this summer’s NBA draft. When that didn’t materialize, he made the call to return to college for a fourth season.

That’s potentially huge news for Kentucky, especially given Pope’s preference for playing a fast-paced offensive style that leads to a high volume of 3-point shots.

Pope has filled 13 of a possible 15 spots on his UK roster for next season, and the Cats would greatly benefit from the addition of Momcilovic.

The schools with the most buzz to possibly land Momcilovic are Kentucky and Louisville, which makes this an even more important recruiting battle for Pope ahead of his third season as UK’s coach.

Arizona has also been linked as a potential landing spot for Momcilovic, but that program is viewed as a long shot option.

On Thursday afternoon, On3 reported that Kentucky is the current favorite to land Momcilovic.

247Sports ranks Momcilovic as the No. 2 portal player this offseason, behind only Flory Bidunga. A 6-10 forward, Bidunga spent the past two seasons at Kansas and will play next season at Louisville.

Momcilovic is the only player in the top 90 of the 247Sports portal rankings who has yet to commit to a school for the 2026-27 season.

Tounde Yessoufou, Allen Graves make stay-or-go choices

Momcilovic wasn’t the only player of interest who had a stay-or-go decision to make this week.

Baylor freshman guard Tounde Yessoufou and Santa Clara redshirt freshman forward Allen Graves were both top transfer portal players who were also candidates to stay in the NBA draft and turn professional.

Yessoufou withdrew from the draft while Graves stayed in it.

A 6-5 guard who is originally from Benin, Yessoufou announced his return to college basketball and his commitment to Rick Pitino’s St. John’s program Wednesday night. Yessoufou, whom 247Sports ranks as the No. 4 portal player, averaged 17.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game at Baylor this past season.

He’s one of four portal commits this offseason for the Red Storm, including former Syracuse forward Donnie Freeman, who was a major Kentucky target.

Graves, a versatile 6-9 forward who averaged 11.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for Santa Clara this past season, is staying in the draft. Duke and LSU were thought to be the top suitors for Graves had he opted to return to school.

While Graves primarily came off the bench for the Broncos, his passing chops and shooting ability (41.3% from 3-point range) made him a coveted draft option for NBA teams and a strong potential portal option for Kentucky.

But Graves is off to the NBA and will likely be a first-round draft pick.

SEC basketball stars make their NBA choices

The trio of Graves, Momcilovic and Yessoufou all garnered plenty of attention for their stay-or-go NBA draft choices. But within the SEC, there were also several consequential moves that shook out this week.

Let’s start with the returnees.

Vanderbilt sophomore Tyler Tanner, Arkansas sophomore guard Billy Richmond III and Alabama freshman forward Amari Allen are all coming back to school for the 2026-27 season.

Tanner was an All-SEC selection for the 2025-26 season after averaging 19.5 points and 5.1 assists per game.

Richmond, a former UK basketball commit under John Calipari, is returning for his third season with the Razorbacks. Richmond — who averaged 11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game — was selected to the SEC all-defensive team for the 2025-26 campaign.

Allen, a versatile 6-8 sophomore-to-be, is running things back for a second season with the Crimson Tide after averaging 11.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.

Also back in college next season will be Shane Blakeney, a junior guard who spent this past season at Drexel before transferring to South Carolina. Blakeney averaged 14.2 points per game for the Dragons while making 35.9% of his 3-point tries.

In the departures category, the most notable decision came from Arkansas freshman Meleek Thomas, who is staying in the NBA draft. Thomas’ one-and-done season with the Hogs saw the former five-star recruit average 15.6 points per game while shooting 41.6% from 3-point range.

And while they aren’t SEC players, the stay-or-go decisions made by Jeremy Fears Jr. and Andrej Stojakovic are noteworthy.

Stojakovic, a junior guard who was a key part of Illinois’ Final Four team this past season, is returning to the Fighting Illini for his fourth college year. Fears, a star sophomore guard at Michigan State, also withdrew from the draft and is expected to be a preseason All-American for the Spartans.

Which players are still available in the NCAA transfer portal?

Kentucky still has up to two roster spots left to fill for next season’s team, and Momcilovic is the obvious top remaining portal target.

But even as June nears, he’s not the only well-regarded portal player yet to make a college decision.

Three other players in the 247Sports transfer rankings have yet to commit to a new school. Those rankings cover the top 247 players in the portal.

Those uncommitted players are sophomore guard Hamad Mousa (Cal Poly), sophomore forward Robert Miller III (LSU) and freshman guard Kelvin Odih (St. John’s).

247Sports ranks Mousa as the No. 93 portal player, while Miller is No. 221 and Odih is No. 227.

In the 247Sports team portal rankings, Louisville holds the top spot after adding six portal players, headlined by the top-ranked Bidunga. Also in U of L’s transfer class are Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad, Dayton guard De’Shayne Montgomery, Arkansas forward Karter Knox, Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras and Southern California center Gabe Dynes.

Dynes, Montgomery and Shelstad were all considered UK targets at one point.

The rest of the top 10 in the team rankings are Tennessee, Texas, St. John’s, Indiana, Miami, Duke, North Carolina, Providence and Texas A&M.

Kentucky and its five transfer pickups — guards Zoom Diallo, Jerone Morton and Alex Wilkins, forward Justin McBride and center Franck Kepnang — are tied for 13th in the portal rankings with Missouri.

Individually, Diallo is No. 26 in the rankings, Wilkins is No. 41, Kepnang is No. 149 and McBride is No. 215.

Former UK basketball players find new college homes

There will be a whole lot of ex-Cats playing college basketball next season.

From Pope’s second UK basketball team, seven players hit the portal this offseason. Additionally, five other former Kentucky players who weren’t on the Cats’ 2025-26 roster also entered the portal in search of a new college program.

Now, all but one of those players have made portal decisions.

From last season’s Kentucky squad, the transfer decisions played out like this: Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), Collin Chandler (BYU), Mouhamed Dioubate (LSU), Brandon Garrison (Alabama), Andrija Jelavic (Ohio State), Jaland Lowe (Georgetown) and Jasper Johnson (Oregon).

The other five ex-Cats who hit the portal again were Devin Askew, Aaron Bradshaw, Jordan Burks, Travis Perry and D.J. Wagner.

Askew, a 6-5 guard, has already played six seasons of college basketball, but he entered the portal with the goal of playing a seventh year. Askew — who averaged 9.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game this past season at Villanova — hasn’t made an announcement on his basketball future.

So far in his college career, Askew has played for Kentucky, Texas, California, Long Beach State and Villanova.

Bradshaw, a 7-1 forward, averaged 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this past season as a junior at Memphis. He will close his college career at Tennessee State, a program coached by former Duke point guard and Louisville assistant coach Nolan Smith. Tennessee State made the NCAA Tournament this past season for the first time since 1994.

This will be Bradshaw’s fourth college in as many years. He’s previously suited up for Kentucky, Ohio State and Memphis.

Burks, a 6-9 forward, had a breakout junior season at Central Florida in which he averaged 13.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Burks scored 22 points in Central Florida’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to UCLA.

After playing stops at Kentucky, Georgetown and UCF, Burks will play his senior year at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys haven’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2021.

Perry, a 6-1 guard, will spend the 2026-27 season at Dayton after averaging 5.3 points and making 35.3% of his 3-pointers as a sophomore this past season at Ole Miss. Perry, who remains the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history, made 31 appearances and four starts for Kentucky as a freshman during the 2024-25 campaign.

Wagner, a 6-4 guard, will play next season at Maryland after previously playing for Calipari at both Kentucky and Arkansas. Wagner spent the past two seasons with the Razorbacks, and he’s coming off a 2025-26 campaign in which he averaged 7.4 points and 2.4 assists per contest.

247Sports ranked nine of the 12 ex-Cats who entered the portal this offseason among its top portal players: Chandler (No. 42), Lowe (No. 47), Dioubate (No. 61), Burks (No. 85), Jelavic (No. 110), Wagner (No. 125) Garrison (No. 146), Johnson (No. 160), Bradshaw (No. 237),

The son of a UK basketball legend chooses his next school

Another Kentucky storyline that got lost in the shuffle of transfer portal madness involved Sir Mohammed, a son of former UK great Nazr Mohammed.

Sir, a 6-foot-6 guard who spent the past two seasons at Notre Dame, hit the transfer portal this offseason.

A former four-star recruit in the 2024 recruiting class, Sir averaged 5.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per contest this past season while playing in all 31 of Notre Dame’s games as a sophomore.

Sir will be playing in the Ivy League next season. He’s announced his transfer to Penn, which reached the NCAA Tournament this past season after winning the Ivy League Tournament.

Sir’s father, Nazr, played at Kentucky from 1995-98 and won national championships with the Cats in 1996 and 1998.

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