Roundtable: What Almonor means for Kentucky
The big news item on Cats Illustrated this Thursday is the commitment of Farleigh Dickinson's Ansley Almonor to Kentucky.
Mark Pope one step closer to the finished product that is his first basketball roster at UK.
Cats Illustrated writers and fans alike have a much better picture of what kind of team Pope will be working with now compared to before the roster came together.
What do you make of Kentucky's latest addition, FDU's Ansley Almonor?
Travis Graf: Adding Almonor pretty much sures up all of the meaningful front court minutes, as he projects as a backup 4 man. I like the thought of Almonor in a backup role as he’ll be a catch and shoot specialist, shooting a high clip from the outside. I believe he can have a Nate Sestina type of impact on the team. At the end of the day, Kentucky is getting older with players with quality experience and nobody on the roster is going to be pushed around. Shooting shouldn’t lack with this roster either.
David Sisk: Kentucky is adding a good piece in Ansley Almonor. I understand that term can be taken negatively, but in this case it is a good thing. Mark Pope is building a roster with quality depth. Almonor gives Pope what he loves in his teams, more strong outside shooting. He may also be the only guy right now who could play both the three and the four roles. At worst, he offers quality play behind Andrew Carr at the power forward position. When you can bring a player off the bench who was First Team All-Northeast Conference you have done well. He has played three full seasons, scored 1,075 points, and made 180 three-pointers. There is successful experience there to draw from.
Justin Rowland: Now that we know what so much of the roster will look like I feel like we have a slightly better understanding of how each next part fits. It makes more sense. You see the logic. I definitely see the logic with Almonor, if you're anticipating that he's likely coming off the bench. FDU was not a good team. For context, they lost to LeMoyne by 20 to end the season and they lost to Fordham by 30 earlier in the season. Almonor had his best season yet and his field goal, three-point, and free throw percentages are well established so you know exactly what kind of shooter you're getting. I know there's been a lot of talk about the schools Kentucky was competing against, but you have to really factor the expectations we should have for any player added at this point. I think he's someone who can be a sparkplug and reliable sharpshooting off the bench, give them some punch when the starters aren't on the court, and that's a great thing to have. He brings something a little different to the spot he'd be playing when he's on the court so there's some real value.
Jeff Drummond: I think it speaks to the strength of the Kentucky brand that Mark Pope was able to add a player of Ansley Almonor’s quality at this stage in the transfer portal window with some big names like Jaxson Robinson, Chaz Lanier, and Wooga Poplar still in the mix. It tells me that Almonor is not afraid to compete. The Cats have added an All-NEC player with more than 1,000 career points and an impressive shooting resume. While it will be a step up in competition, did have a 20-point game against Illinois last season. This much is clear: there will be no shortage of shooting on the UK roster. Almonor made 93 treys last season at a 39% clip, including three games with six or more.