Mark Pope has record-breaking expectations for Milan Momcilovic
Momcilovic is raising the ceiling of expectations for this Kentucky team.
Brace yourselves, Big Blue Nation.
No, it’s not going to literally rain inside Rupp Arena this winter. But in terms of raining 3s, you can go ahead and forecast, even expect, that to happen.
That’s because Kentucky Basketball landed the best shooter in the country, Milan Momcilovic, earlier this month. Momcilovic is going to fit right in to Mark Pope’s system, and Pope himself is clearly seeing the vision.
It’s an ambitious vision that may break records.
“I feel like I can do the same thing this year as last year, but even better,” Momcilovic said in an interview with UK Sports Network. “Pope was telling me he doesn’t want me shooting 48% from 3 this year. He’d see it as a failure because it would mean I wasn’t taking enough (shots). He wants me to take a lot more, 10 3s a game, and take that percentage down a little bit.”
If you’re thinking that this may be one of those head-scratching coaching philosophies from Pope, maybe you’re right. But then again, it’s just another, albeit creative, way to say that Pope wants Momcilovic to keep shooting it, and more shots would likely result in a lower percentage.
After all, it’s Pope’s head coach when he played for Kentucky, Rick Pitino, who said to his team in that viral video, “We don’t care about your missed shots.” Case in point. Shooters keep shooting.
Consider also that Momcilovic made 136 3-pointers at Iowa State last year. That’s 19 more than the current single-season record at Kentucky, held by Jodie Meeks with 117 in 2008-2009.
In addition, Momcilovic attempted 279 3-pointers last year.
279. That’s 21 away from 300.
And at 7.5 attempts per game last year, Momcilovic wasn’t exactly far from attempting 10 per game.
Mark Pope’s system is catered towards shooters. It emphasizes shooters. This feels like a perfect match for Pope and Momcilovic. If it works the way they hope it will, and the fans hope it will, this Kentucky team could be very good this season.
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