College hoops fans left debating over Kentucky's latest addition Ansley Almonor: "This one's low key embarrassing" "Pope is building a TEAM"

The Kentucky Wildcats and new coach Mark Pope got another commitment when former Fairleigh Dickinson forward Ansley Almonor committed to the program. The forward had a Zoom meeting with the new Wildcats staff, replacing coach John Calipari's, had a visit to campus on Tuesday, and finally committed on Thursday.

Almonor was named a First Team All-Northeast Conference last season for a stellar year with the Knights.

College hoops fans on X had mixed reactions to Almonor's commitment to Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats.

"Kentucky fans will try to spin this into something other than what it is. A mid player joining and already mid team," one fan tweeted.

Other fans praised the addition and stated that the forward would help the team.

"Need depth. He’s a nice piece," one fan tweeted.

"Dude average 17 and 5 and made 90 3s and will be our backup 4. How is that a bad pickup," another fan tweeted.

"16 and 5 while shooting 40% from 3. He’s 6’7. Yeah I’ll take that all day," another fan tweeted.

Many praised coach Mark Pope for recruiting Ansley Almonor.

"Pope’s got a platoon system brewing in his hands," one fan tweeted.

"Pope is building a TEAM, not a roster of individual players. Let's see how the puzzle pieces fit together. Congratulations Ansley!" another fan tweeted.

"#317 ranked transfer lol. Pope with another BANGER," one fan tweeted.

Mark Pope snares a shooter for the Kentucky Wildcats

Ansley Almonor has shown improvement in each of his three years of college basketball. During his freshman season, he averaged 3.5 points and 1.7 rebounds before averaging 13.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 2022-23.

Last year was his best season, registering 16.4 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 39.4% from beyond the arc and 43.6% from the floor while attempting 7.4 3-pointers per contest. He had four games of six-plus 3-pointers last season.

Almonor was named a First Team All-Northeast Conference and finished his Fairleigh Dickinson career with 1,097 points scored and 180 3-pointers.

Almonor tied the Knights' single-season record of 3-pointers last season with 93 from beyond the arc. He was also part of the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights team that upset the Zach Edey-led Purdue Boilermakers during the 2023 NCAA Tournament opening round.

Wildcats coach Mark Pope recently revealed that he was looking for a lights-out shooter from the transfer portal, and it seems as if they have gotten their man with the acquisition of Ansley Almonor.

“We’ll probably try to add one more really, really shot-driven piece on that frontline, maybe somebody that will feel like a four or three. We’ll see,” Pope said. “We’re trying to fill that space right now.”

Kentucky has brought in eight players, including Amari Williams, Kerr Kriisa, Andrew Carr, Lamont Butler, Koby Brea, Otega Oweh, Brandon Garrison and Ansley Almonor.

Pope has built a roster full of experience with 26 years of Division I experience between the eight transfers, something that they sorely lacked in recent years under coach John Calipari.

While some college basketball fans might not be impressed by the caliber of players that Kentucky and Mark Pope are acquiring from the transfer portal, the Wildcats coach seems satisfied with his choices.