Over the last several recruiting classes, the University of Kentucky Basketball program has come up short in terms of landing the “big fish” in either recruiting or the transfer portal.

But recently, head coach Mark Pope and his staff landed Milan Momcilovic — the top target in the entire transfer portal — from Iowa State to join their team for the upcoming season.

While many people clearly played a role in getting Momcilovic to Kentucky, former Wildcat Tyler Herro clearly had his fingerprints on the move.

Tyler’s dad — Chris — was Momcilovic’s coach back in AAU and (of course) was heavily connected to UK through Tyler back around the COVID years when Momcilovic was being recruited out of high school.

“Tyler reached out to me. Chris (Herro) and my dad are pretty good friends because they used to coach together on the EYB,” Momcilovic said during Thursday’s media scrum. “So, he was calling me, and he was obviously telling me, ‘Go to Kentucky. Go to Kentucky.’ I really like the Herro family. Obviously, I listen to them, but it was my decision at the end of the day.”

Though Kentucky never reached out originally back during his high school recruiting, they did come knocking most recently during this past summer, and with the help of Herro’s encouragement, Momcilovic will represent the Big Blue Nation this fall in Lexington for a chance to try and bring banner No. 9 home to UK.

Can’t love this enough.

No return to college bball for Billy D.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Cub Express Auto Wash will officially open its newest Kentucky location next week.

Located at 2270 Scottsville Rd. in Bowling Green, a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on Tuesday, July 7, at 11 a.m. It will kick off five days of free car washes for the community.

The Five Days of Free will run from Tuesday, July 7, through Saturday, July 11. Each guest will receive the Ultimate wash, Cub Express’s top-tier wash experience. at no charge.

The public is invited to attend the ribbon cutting on-site at 11:00 a.m. to celebrate the opening alongside the Cub Express team.

Claim Your Free Ultimate Wash

Mark Pope had a real surprise on his 2025-26 roster as true freshman center Malachi Moreno exceeded expectations, stepping into a starting role. Big Blue Nation didn’t expect Moreno to see the floor much once Jayden Quaintance was back on the floor, but JQ never got healthy, and Moreno took over for Brandon Garrison immediately. The freshman seven-footer averaged 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game.

This season, many expect a massive leap for Moreno as he could take over as one of the more dominant centers in the SEC. While his name was in the NBA Draft, the stock rose quickly for Moreno, and this gives fans and the staff a ton of confidence that he is going to break out this season.

Another person who believes Moreno is going to break out this season is Jon Rothstein. He made a list of his five top breakout candidates in SEC basketball this season, and Moreno was on this list, joined by Florida’s Isaiah Brown, Alabama’s London Jemison, Tennessee’s Dewayne Brown, and lastly Patton Pinkins from Ole Miss.

I believe Moreno is going to boost his stats from year one to year two in an absolutely massive way. I predict Moreno to score in the ballpark of 13 points per game this season. I expect him to pull down about 9 boards per game. His assists will take a big leap with him running the show, and I am predicting 3.5 dimes per game. Lastly, the shot blocking will be important for Moreno, and I believe he will average about 2.2 blocks per game.

If Moreno is able to put up numbers close to that this year as a sophomore, he is going to, without question, turn himself into a first-round draft pick, which Coach Pope predicted. The big thing for Moreno will be getting more physical down low. At times last season, teams would have a big who played a little bit more physical than Moreno, and he didn’t do well.

If Moreno can get mean down low, he is going to put up some eye-popping numbers this season in Lexington. I believe Moreno will finish this college basketball season as a top ten center in all of college basketball. It is going to be an absolute delight to watch Moreno run the show on offense this season for Pope and the Wildcats.

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