Mark Pope’s Milan Momcilovic Demand Could Rewrite Kentucky Basketball History

Mark Pope’s Milan Momcilovic demand could rewrite Kentucky Basketball history
Mark Pope’s 3-point demand of Milan Momcilovic could rewrite Kentucky Basketball’s history book if Momcilovic converts.

Mark Pope doesn’t want perfection from his newest weapon. He wants an absolute barrage.

We’ve all heard the quote by now, and if you haven’t, go check out Alex Frank’s awesome piece by clicking here. Pope’s vision for Milan Momcilovic is something we have never seen in Kentucky Basketball history. He wants him to take 10 3s a night.

That sounds great in a press conference. It gets everyone in Big Blue Nation fired up, because who doesn’t love the way Pitino’s Bambinos played? But what does a diet of 10 3-pointers a night from one player actually look like on a practical level?

Assuming Momcilovic stays healthy and plays all 32 games of the regular season, 10 attempts a night translate to 320 total 3-point attempts before the SEC Tournament.

To understand how absurd that is, let’s run those 320 attempts through three different shooting scenarios and see where Momcilovic would land in the hallowed Kentucky record books.
Let’s say Milan reverts to his freshman number and Momcilovic shoots a pedestrian 35%. For a guy who shot 48.7% last year, it would be considered a massive slump.

Yet, even hitting just 35% on that volume, Momcilovic would drain 112 3s. That would instantly become the third-greatest 3-point shooting season in Kentucky basketball history, falling just five makes shy of Jodie Meeks’ legendary 2008-09 campaign, and one short of Jamal Murray’s lone year in Lexington.

A “bad” shooting year at this volume still makes him a historic weapon.

This is likely exactly what Pope has in mind when he told Momcilovic he wants the percentage to drop in exchange for volume. A 40% clip on double-digit attempts is elite offensive efficiency.