Kentucky basketball is full of newcomers. These two are making a big leap in competition.

cameron drummond

Thu, Aug 8, 2024, 6:20 a.m.·9 min read

Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball team is full of newcomers.

Not a single one of the 12 scholarship players (nine arrivals via the transfer portal and three incoming freshmen) on UK’s roster for the 2024-25 season were Wildcats last season under former coach John Calipari.

Among the nine players with previous college basketball experience now at UK, some have proven their mettle at a higher level than others.

Fifth-year guard Lamont Butler was a standout at San Diego State and hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating shot in the Final Four. Fellow fifth-year backcourt player Jaxson Robinson led Pope’s final BYU team in scoring (14.2 points per game) last season. Fifth-year forward Andrew Carr started all 68 games over the last two seasons at Wake Forest and was one of the ACC’s best shot blockers last season.

Plenty of other incoming Wildcats, from Koby Brea to Brandon Garrison, also boast substantial past college basketball credentials.

But for two Kentucky newcomers in particular, the decision to transfer to UK represents a steep step up in competition.

Forwards Amari Williams and Ansley Almonor both boast plenty of college basketball experience, but that experience has come at the low-major and mid-major levels.

Williams, a 6-foot-10 forward, previously played four seasons at Drexel in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA). Almonor, a 6-foot-7 forward, previously played three seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson of the Northeast Conference (NEC).

Compared to those teams and leagues, Kentucky represents a significant jump up in competition for both.

According to KenPom, during Williams’ four seasons at Drexel, the Dragons ranked 158th (2020-21), 153rd (2021-22), 198th (2022-23) and 126th (2023-24) in the country. League-wise, the CAA — formerly known as the Colonial Athletic Association — was ranked by KenPom at 19th (2020-21), 14th (2021-22), 26th (2022-23) and 19th (2023-24) compared to the nation’s other college basketball conferences.

It was a similar story for Almonor at Fairleigh Dickinson.

In his three seasons at FDU, the Knights ranked 345th (2021-22), 265th (2022-23) and 327th (2023-24) per KenPom. This comes alongside the NEC ranking 29th (2021-22), 32nd (2022-23) and 32nd (2023-24) among the country’s college basketball leagues.

Those 2022-23 and 2023-24 KenPom rankings slotted the NEC as the worst college basketball league in the nation both seasons.

Comparatively, the SEC has ranked in the top four of KenPom’s conference listing in each of the last four seasons.

Predicting how individual players will acclimate to a higher level of night-in, night-out competition — especially this offseason at UK, where so much change has occurred — is an inexact science.

But as we inch closer toward a Kentucky basketball season full of intrigue, an interesting storyline to watch will be how Williams and Almonor — two players with past NCAA Tournament experience — adapt to Kentucky and the SEC, as well as the impact each player can deliver as they take a major step up in college basketball.

New Kentucky basketball forward Amari Williams won the last three CAA Defensive Player of the Year awards while at Drexel in Philadelphia.

Amari Williams brings defense, passing skills to Kentucky basketball

Williams arrives in Lexington with significant defensive credentials. A native of England who boasts a 7-foot-5 wingspan, Williams won the last three CAA Defensive Player of the Year awards and led the conference in blocks in each of the last three seasons while at Drexel.

This defensive acumen was noted by Evan Miyakawa, one of college basketball’s preeminent statisticians. According to Miyakawa, Williams’ projected Defensive Bayesian Performance Rating (DBPR) — which measures the defensive value a player provides to his team while on the court — for next season ranks 17th out of more than 1,800 players who entered the transfer portal this offseason.

“In general, obviously, the level of competition that you have in whatever conference you’re coming from does play a part in how well you’re supposed to do if you jump up to the next level in terms of a high-major conference,” Miyakawa told the Herald-Leader.

According to Miyakawa, Williams is expected to be Kentucky’s best defensive addition of the offseason. Williams projects to have the best DBPR (2.57 defensive points per 100 possessions better than the Division I average) of any UK basketball addition from the portal.

“You can see the length (and) the athleticism for sure,” Williams said of watching SEC games during the past few seasons. “That’s something that stands out every time, or just how quick the guards are, how quick the game moves. But physicality isn’t really shown on TV sometimes, so I feel like that’s something you’ve really got to be in to be able to feel it.”

New Kentucky basketball player Amari Williams picked UK out of the NCAA transfer portal from a final shortlist of schools that also included Mississippi State and St. John’s.

The left-handed Williams was courted by several high-major schools this offseason after entering the portal: He picked UK from a final shortlist that also included Mississippi State and St. John’s.

Rebounding is also expected to be a strength for Williams: Per KenPom, Williams had the 28th-best defensive rebounding percentage in the country (26.2%) and the 65th-best offensive rebounding percentage (12.7%) last season.

Williams also carries a reputation as a deft passer: He averaged 1.6 assists across 105 career games at Drexel.

“I love to pass, find cutters. So I feel like it’s the perfect offense for me to be in,” Williams added. “Especially with all the shooters we have, it’s kind of easy to find someone. Someone’s going to be able to put up a shot. So, yeah, I love it so far.”

UK men’s basketball newcomer Ansley Almonor was a standout scorer during the last two seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson, a school in the Northeast Conference.

Can Ansley Almonor translate scoring from Fairleigh Dickinson to UK?

After becoming a regular starter at Fairleigh Dickinson the last two seasons, Almonor arrives in Lexington with a history of big-time production against bad college basketball opposition.

As a sophomore with the Knights — a memorable 2022-23 season that included an NCAA Tournament 16 seed over 1 seed upset win against Purdue — Almonor averaged 13.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 38.1% from 3-point range. He was named the NEC’s Most Improved Player that season.

Last season as a junior, Almonor improved on those numbers with per-game averages of 16.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists while nailing 39.4% of his 3-pointers. Those makes from deep came on significant shot volume: Almonor averaged nearly three made 3-pointers per game during the 2023-24 season.

In both those seasons, Fairleigh Dickinson’s league, the NEC, ranked as the worst college basketball conference in the country, per KenPom.

This played a big role in Miyakawa’s projections for Almonor at UK. According to Miyakawa, Almonor is the only UK transfer addition who is projected to have a negative BPR, which is a measure of the number of points per 100 possessions better than the opponent a player’s team is expected to be if the player were on the court with nine other average players.

Almonor’s projected BPR for the 2024-25 season is negative 0.42. The next closest Wildcat on Miyakawa’s projected BPR list is Williams, who has a projected BPR of positive 3.64.

“(Almonor) was one of their best players. But the problem is that FDU was ranked in like the 320s on my website and on KenPom, like one of the worst 50 teams in the country,” Miyakawa said. “You take the best player on any of those teams. They’re statistically most likely not going to profile that well in jumping from that level of team to you know, the SEC for example. Like, that’s just a big jump.”

“You can’t automatically assume that all of those stats are going to translate in the same way,” Miyakawa added. “So that’s built into my model as part of why Almonor is not rated anywhere near where the rest of the players are for Kentucky. ... There’s a massive difference between making almost 40% of your 3s for FDU versus hoping to replicate that in the SEC. That’s just a big, big gap.”

How has Almonor, who was a first-team All-NEC honoree last season, gone about preparing to play at UK and in the SEC?

“I feel like I’m a pretty quick learner, but it’s just different. But it’s good, different is good sometimes,” Almonor said. “Being able to learn this stuff and try to implement it and try to make it second nature, that’s really been the adjustment. ... Coach’s offense is pretty complex and there’s a lot of terminology that’s a lot different than what I’ve learned before. (I’m) definitely trying my best to learn all that stuff.”

Something that shouldn’t be discounted with Almonor is his ability to quickly adjust to a new coaching staff. Pope will be the fourth different head coach Almonor has played for in four college seasons.

“(Pope) is a really good teacher, once we got into real practices and stuff, he was taking a lot of time teaching us how certain things in his offense go: How they’re supposed to be, what the reads are and where people are supposed to be on the court,” Almonor said. “It’s been helping everybody be able to learn each other, where we’re supposed to be and help how we play off of each other.”

Despite not rating Almonor highly in his projections, Miyakawa offered an important caveat when analyzing what Almonor may contribute to the Wildcats next season.

In Miyakawa’s opinion, UK will ask more of Almonor from an offensive production standpoint (an area where Almonor graded out in the positive in Miyakawa’s metrics) compared to a defensive production standpoint (an area where Almonor graded out significantly in the negative).

“He scored a lot for Fairleigh Dickinson. His defensive grade is pretty bad. But like, I don’t think they’re bringing him in to play defense,” Miyakawa noted. “I think they’re bringing him in to be a solid option to stretch the floor and make some 3s. And so I’m kind of intrigued by that, because maybe, this is speculation at this point, but maybe the point is that you’re sort of relying on the guys who are your offensive guys. And then … you know who your go-to defensive guys are. You know who your go-to offensive guys are. So maybe there’s some sort of intentionality with that.”