Mark Pope has to do everything in his power to land Milan Momcilovic.

With five-star Ryan Hampton deciding not to reclassify, Kentucky and Mark Pope seem to have only one obvious option left on the wing.

The Kentucky Wildcats, coached by Mark Pope, just got a huge boost to their roster for the 2026-27 season with one of their standouts from last year confirming a return to the team. On Sunday, May 24,

Pope called Moreno Kentucky's biggest priority heading into transfer portal season.

Kentucky coach Mark Pope's public Q&A backfired spectacularly as frustrated Wildcats fans unloaded over transfer portal losses and recruiting woes.

Kentucky's roster rebuild under Mark Pope has drawn heavy scrutiny this offseason as the Wildcats attempt to replace their five leading scorers from last season with the No. 98 high school recruiting class and a transfer portal group that lacks a top 25 talent.

That reality was underscored when Pope welcomed a snoozer of a debut high school recruiting class, which included middling in-state prospects Travis Perry and Trent Noah. The crown jewel was former BYU commitment Collin Chandler, a four-star guard who was coming off a two-year church mission.

Mark Pope is having a very, very bad spring in Kentucky

Kentucky missed on Tounde Yessoufou the first time around, but the talented backcourt player is in the transfer portal this spring.

Apart from Tyran Stokes, Mark Pope and his team had Rob Wright III, Donnie Freeman and De’Shayne Montgomery as their top targets. However, all of them rejected the offer to play for the Kentucky Wildcats.