The Kentucky wildcats have gone from zero to hundred real quick. Well not quite a hundred, but they have now reached eleven players after starting from zero just four weeks ago. With the bulk of the minutes registered, Mark Pope spoke with Jon Rothstein this week and said they have three scholarships left and will utilize all three. The special emphasis was that they want to grab two for now and use the third for a later add that could be a high-risk player or a reclass option. Nevertheless, one of the two opening positions has been filled by Fairleigh Dickinson University transfer, Ansley Almanor.
Almonor is a stretch forward who averaged 16ppg, 5rebs, and 2ast while shooting 40% from three this past season at FDU. Originally from the Bronx NY where he played at Our Savior Lutheran, He would sign with FDU in 2021, where spent all three seasons and saw an improvement each year in production. Almonor entered the portal back in March and had received a lot of interest from mid major programs. Seemingly Ansley has been waiting for certain schools to reach and desires to attempt to carve a role on a high major team in his last season.
As aforementioned with the rosters filled with major minute holders, it can be expected that Almonor will see the floor this season as mostly a backup four position to Andrew Carr. Of course, no position is promised but I believe there to be an understanding of the role that he will have on the team. At FDU he played the center position due to lack of size, but that won’t be an issue here at Kentucky. Furthermore, the analytic approach this is tagged to this staff still seems relevant as Almonor fits the build of a player Kentucky would want. While being noted as a good shooter, he has experience coming off screens and making jumpers in catch and shoot situations mostly. Another good fit for the actions that will be ran by Coach Pope at Kentucky.
With this addition there is now two remaining spots left on the Kentucky roster for the 2024-2025 season. As most know Kentucky is closely monitoring two players who are currently going through NBA workouts. More info regarding one of them will come out closer to May 29th deadline. The other we could possibly see on a visit within a week. Nevertheless, the staff has added another variable to this good roster equation.
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