Kentucky Basketball coach Mark Pope has zeroed in on another player in the transfer portal.

Meet Ansley Almonor, a senior who played the last three seasons with the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights. He’s reportedly visiting Pope and Kentucky today for a visit.

Standing at 6-foot-7 and 219 pounds, Almonor possesses the skill to score the basketball at a high level. This past season, he scored over 16 points per game while averaging career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, field-goal percentage, and 3-point percentage.

It’s clear Pope has a game plan for putting the finishing touches on his roster. Every player he and his staff have targeted over the last couple of weeks has had the ability to shoot from outside. His teams at BYU shot a ton of 3-pointers, and Kentucky fans should expect to see this Kentucky team run a very similar offense this upcoming season.

Almonor is a terrific fit for Pope’s game plan and would bring a lot of veteran experience to Kentucky. In fact, he was a member of the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights team that upset the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers back in 2023.

Tweet of the Day

Wright State tonight.

Headlines

Perry Fit With Mark Pope, UK Just Feels Right – Vaught’s Views

Love it.

Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson has ankle surgery, sources say – ESPN

Tough for New York.

Grant Smith expected back for Vanderbilt series – KSR

Huge.

Lions signing QB Jared Goff to 4-year, $212M extension – ESPN

Quite the bag.

Things to Know Before You Go to the PGA Championship – KSR

Will you be going?

Tom Brady to make NFL broadcasting debut Week 1 – CBS Sports

This is still weird.

Reed Sheppard posts 42-inch vertical at the Draft Combine – KSR

Which was the best.

Caitlin Clark back in action tonight – USA Today

Fever vs. Sun.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – It started as a fun way to pass time with her family during the COVID-19 pandemic, but more than 100,000 followers and close to 4 million likes on TikTok later, Whitney Pannell said it’s become another way to grow her business.

“I want to be ahead of the curve. I want to be a trendsetter,” Pannell said.

Known as ‘Momma Pannell’ on TikTok, Whitney first started out on Facebook in 2007, then continued to grow her following, and Real Estate business, over on Instagram. TikTok became another social media site to build her brand, and a larger clientele.

“People that follow me on TikTok will call me and want to list their house with me or want me to help them buy. I hardly have to interview anymore because people already know my personality through my social media.”

Like most creators, Pannell has been following the TikTok news out of Washington, D.C., for the past couple of weeks.

President Joe Biden signed a bill that would ban the video-sharing app from being downloaded in the U.S. unless the site owner, a Chinese company ByteDance, sells TikTok to a non-Chinese buyer within the year.

“If TikTok went away, I would be fine. I would use other platforms.”

ByteDance is already suing the federal government, but there could be a lengthy battle ahead.

One, an influencer like Pannell said she’s prepared for.

“I don’t put all of my eggs in the TikTok basket. Or the Instagram basket. You have to really diversify on all your platforms. That’s why it is really a time-consuming job.”

Pannell’s son Parker has also built a career through social media. He’s now an actor, YouTuber and content creator with millions of followers, and he’s now living and working in Los Angeles.

Copyright 2024 WKYT. All rights reserved.

John Calipari’s return to Kentucky has been set.

On Monday, the SEC announced the upcoming 2024-25 men’s basketball regular season slate and Calipari’s now-led Arkansas Razorbacks are set to travel to Rupp Arena to take on Mark Pope’s Wildcats.

A date and time for the game will be announced at a later date. The SEC regular season is slated to begin on Saturday, January 4 and end on Saturday, March 8 of next year per the conference’s press release.

REQUIRED READING John Calipari aims to use ‘eight or nine’ players during first year at Arkansas

With the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC next season, the traditional home-and-home makeup of the SEC regular season will not continue as only three teams will play each other twice now in a season.

And so, with Arkansas and Kentucky not scheduled to play a home-and-home this season this means Calipari and the Razorbacks won’t host the Wildcats in a return game in Fayetteville this year.

Naturally given how beloved Calipari was at Kentucky and how his tenure ended, it will be one of the highest-priced tickets this upcoming basketball season.

Since being hired at Arkansas back last month, Calipari has rebuilt a Razorbacks roster that went 16-17 overall under former head coach Eric Musselman through the transfer portal. Calipari has brought in Wildcats transfers Adou Thiero and Zvonimor Ivisic, FAU guard transfer Johnell Davis and former Tennessee big man Jonas Aidoo.

The Hall of Fame coach signed a five-year contract with a salary slightly north of $8.5 million per year with the Razorbacks, which makes him the second-highest-paid college basketball coach in the country according to the USA TODAY Sports database.

In his 15 seasons at Kentucky, Calipari compiled an overall record of 410-123 while leading the Wildcats to a national championship title in 2012 and four Final Four appearances.