The Kid Who Ended Our Season Just Joined It. We're So Back.

I need you to sit with the magnitude of this, because the takes machine will move on by Thursday and you deserve to feel it first.

Milan Momcilovic led the nation in three-point percentage last season — 48.7 percent, and not on some low-volume diet either: 7.5 attempts a game, 136 makes, a 69.8 true shooting percentage that is frankly cartoonish for a 6-foot-8 wing. He was All-Big 12 Second Team. He posted the 10th-best offensive rating in all of college basketball. And he did every bit of it inside an Iowa State system that was not built to launch him. Now he walks into a Mark Pope offense that runs on movement and spacing and threes — the exact machine Pope has been trying to build since the day he got to Lexington.

This is not a 'nice add.' This is THE add. Pope's sixth transfer addition of the offseason and the one that changes the math on all of it. The best shooter in America, in Kentucky blue, by choice, over Louisville and Arizona. Say it slower if you need to. It's real.

Here's the projected starting lineup for 2026-27, and go ahead and try to find the soft spot.

Point guard: Zoom Diallo, the Washington transfer, a top-30 portal lead guard. Shooting guard: Alex Wilkins, the SoCon Tournament MVP out of Furman, a bucket. Small forward: Milan Momcilovic — see above, the best shooter in America. Power forward: Ousmane N'Diaye, a 6-11 international stretch four with real length. And at center, Malachi Moreno, who turned down the NBA Draft just last week to come back and anchor the whole thing.

Look at what Momcilovic does to that group. Help off him and he buries you. Don't help, and Diallo's got a runway to the rim and Moreno's got a clean roll. Pick your poison. That is the entire point of Pope's offense, and Pope just got the perfect engine for it. EvanMiya projects a top-10 roster. Borzello says it could be the best offense in the country. After watching this guy play, I believe every word.

I'm not going to lie to you on the best day we've had in months. As high as the ceiling is, this is the best OFFENSE in the country — not yet the best team. Two things still have to show up.

One: defense. Jayden Quaintance took his shot-blocking to the NBA Draft, and Milan, for all his magic, is not a stopper. Somebody on this roster has to protect the rim and guard on the wing, or all that gorgeous shooting just turns into track meets we won't always win.

Two: this backcourt is a brand-new band. Diallo, Wilkins, Morton and the freshmen have never shared a floor, and there's exactly one proven lead guard in the building. That's why the last open scholarship — 14 of 15 are spoken for — should go to a guard who can defend and back up Diallo.

None of that dims the day. It just means the job's not finished. Pope landed the hard part. Now go find the glue.

One more time, because it's poetry. On March 22, Milan Momcilovic walked into the NCAA Tournament and dropped 20 points on Kentucky — 4-of-9 from three — and Iowa State ended our season, 82-63. We watched him do it. We were sick about it.

Eleven weeks later, he's ours.

The kid who beat us is now the reason everybody else is nervous. National writers spent May saying this commitment might save Mark Pope's job — maybe it did. So when Pope posts a photo of himself on a beach, phone to his ear, 50 Cent's 'Many Men' playing him off, let the man floss. He earned every second.

Here's where I land, BBN. The cupboard was never bare. The takes were never the truth. And the best shooter in America looked at Kentucky, Louisville, and Arizona — and picked us. Welcome to Lexington, Milan. Go get us a banner. We're so back, and this time I mean it.