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Big news dropped in the college basketball world early Thursday morning as former Fairleigh Dickinson Knight and First Team All-Northeast Conference selection forward Ansley Almonor announced his commitment to transfer to play the 2024-25 season for the prestigious Kentucky Wildcats.
Almonor chose the Wildcats over mid-majors such as Pepperdine, Iona, and Siena.
Now that we know where Almonor is going: Who exactly are the Wildcats getting?
A Skilled Stretch Big
Almonor, 22, stands 6-foot-7 with a solid frame at 220 lbs and is a rarely skilled big for a player of his size. He’s a naturally talented and skilled scorer, scoring over 1,000 career points with the Knights (32nd Knight to do so), and had a career season his junior year averaging 16.4 points (2nd in the Northeast Conference), 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while shooting nearly 44% from the field and a staggering 39% from three on 7.4 attempts per game from beyond the arc.
He also finishes strong at the rim and absorbs contact well while finishing through it.
Through his three years with the Knights Almonor shot 38.5% from downtown on 468 total 3-point attempts.
Adding him to the Wildcats will give them another floor spacer who can spread the floor to help open up easy lanes for his teammates as opponents will have to respect his consistency from downtown.
A Great Teammate Willing To Sacrifice
The Wildcats are getting a great player, but an even better person. Almonor is someone I’ve known since the sandbox days of daycare since he’s two years younger than me.
He could have gone to a mid-major, as the ones I mentioned at the beginning of this article (Pepperdine, Iona, Siena), and be the star of the team and go-to option. Instead, he chose to sacrifice to go somewhere he seemed to fit best to help improve his game and play against the best of the best day in and day out.
March Madness Experience/Conclusion
The Wildcats are getting a great all-around player in Almonor who was an instrumental piece to the Knight's magical 2023 March Madness run that included one of the greatest upsets of all-time as No.16 Fairleigh Dickinson defeated the No.1 ranked Purdue Boilermakers 63-58, knocking off the top seed in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and shocking the world to send the National Player of The Year Zach Edey home stunningly.
Almonor struggled offensively that game, shooting 0-for-4 from the field, but was the tallest player on his team and did a masterful job against the tallest, most dominant big in the country in Edey who’s projected to be a first-round draft pick this year’s NBA Draft.
His stats may not have been eye-popping that game, but that game showed his grit and toughness, something he embodies from his hometown 845 area of Spring Valley, New York.
Big Blue Nation is entering a new era with former BYU Head Coach Mark Pope entering his first season at the helm of the Wildcats after legendary head coach John Calipari left for Arkansas.
Big Blue Nation stand up! Because you just got a great one.