New UK signee Jayden Quaintance was the youngest player in college basketball last season but still averaged 9.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. (Arizona State Athletics Photo)
No way was Jayden Quaintance going to pass up a second chance to play basketball at the University of Kentucky.
The 6-10 Quaintance planned to play at Kentucky for coach John Calipari but instead ended up at Arizona for the 2024-25 season after Calipari left UK for Arkansas.
“We always liked Kentucky,” Haminn Quaintance, Jayden’s father, said. “We were always hoping it might work out so they would recruit him again.”
That didn’t happen when Mark Pope got the UK job after Calipari left but when Quaintance put his name into the transfer portal one of the first coaches to reach out was Pope.
“Jayden is a 17-year-old phenom who is as explosive as he is skilled, and he is just scratching the surface of what he’s going to become in this game,” Pope said. “He’s an incredibly bright kid who is already postering anyone in Big Blue Nation in a game of chess and he and his family couldn’t be more excited to finally get to wear the Blue and White.”
Obviously, Kentucky was not the only school to reach out, but Kentucky had one edge. Signee Jasper Johnson, a Kentucky native, and Quaintance played on the same AAU team and kept a good relationship.
“They set (Nike) EYBL on fire. They like each other and competing with each other,” Haminn Quaintance said. “Jasper talked to the (UK) coaching staff about Jayden. They were talking and that did definitely influence the decision (about coming to UK).
“We were locked into Kentucky before the Cal thing happened. We felt a part of it. Jayden always loved UK. We just wanted to be there and they wanted us to be there. We didn’t have to do another visit.”
Quaintance averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game last season when he shot 52.5 percent from the field. He was named to the Big 12 Conference All-Freshman and All-Defensive teams. He started all 24 games and averaged 29.7 minutes per contest. His 63 blocks combined with 27 steals made Quaintance the only player in the country to reach a combined 90 blocks and steals in fewer than 25 games last season.
He was also the youngest player in college basketball last season, and only two players on this year’s McDonald’s All-American Team were younger than Quaintance.
The family didn’t want to “drag out” a decision because Haminn Quaintance thought that might only make the choice more confusing.
“It was already so hard with the Auburn situation. I was impressed with Kentucky. So was he. Kentucky already felt like home. I didn’t want to have a school like (national champion) Florida call or another school that I might really like calls,” Haminn Quaintance said. “It’s just too much and too many hard decisions. When you already have a school you like, you do not need another one complicating the decision because my phone was on fire. There was just no need to drag it out.”
Despite the numbers Jayden Quaintance had at Arizona State, his father never felt the system was the best fit for his son.
“It was guard ball. He could dominate at times but the system just did not utilize his playmaking ability,” Haminn Quaintance said. “They just didn’t have an emphasis on getting the ball in the post even when we had mismatches. He’s up to about 250 (pounds) or so now. He looks big but to me he is still slim and can get bigger.
“I feel like what Pope does is made for him. I know what he can do and he’ll have a chance to grow his game at Kentucky. I saw Kentucky play some last year. They are one of my favorite teams and I would get an alert (on my phone) when they played. When Pope called, I knew exactly what he was talking about with his team. He plays his bigs similar to how I played. Pope likes his passing ability and ball handling. He likes that he can guard one through five.”
Quaintance is already being projected as a top 10 pick in the 2026 NBA draft, even though he suffered a knee injury in February and had surgery on March 19 to repair his torn ACL.
“If everything goes as planned, being ready when the season starts is the goal. I really think that is going to happen,” Quaintance’s father said. “He is attacking rehab. We expect to be back in time for the start of the season. Jayden will do the work to make sure that happens.”
4 Responses
Looking forward to watch this young man next season
He will be All SEC this year. Depending on how he responds to rehab, which I think he ultimately comes back early November, It will take him a month or 2 to get back to playing 100%. So I’m guessing early December or the beginning of SEC play he completely dominates. He could be a 15ppg 10rpg 3bpg type of guy. Which would make him a top 8 pick in the NBA draft if he cam even get close to those numbers, because this should be his freshman year in college. To have numbers like that at Kentucky guarantees you Lottery status. The great thing about this years team is he can ease his way back. We are so deep in the front court that we don’t ave to force him to play to win. With Dioboute Moreno Garrison and the Croatian we will be good until JQ returns. It will also give these guys more minutes until he returns. Moreno and the Croatian need as many minutes as they can get to get caught up with the speed of the game and one of the 2 that I just mentioned will surprise alot of people. The great thing about all this is that none of our front court guys are seniors so we could possibly get 2 or 3 of them back for the following season. One difference I’ve noticed from Pope that plagues alot of other coaches is it seems like his guys want to play for him. Everyone that could have came back has came back besides Kriisa and he seen the writing on the wall that his playing time here was done and the only reason he played for Kentucky is because Pope had to fill a roster. He could have came back and played for us last year and helped put when we had injuries piled up but he was saving himself for another payday. That’s what I’ll remember about Kerr. But like I was saying the core guys off this team have all stayed. What’s weird is that Perry hasn’t announced if he is staying or going. If I was Perry and im sorry to say this but I would transfer to a school where I’m going to get playing time. This years team is muuuuuch better than last years team and he wouldn’t have played if half of our team wasn’t hurt. I would at least transfer out and if he destroys it at his next school he could always transfer back??? Playing in games makes you better than just practicing. He needs playing time to hit his stride.
Kerr had a Jones fracture of the foot with resultant surgery. There was no way he was coming back with any effectiveness last season. I agree he was not going to get much playing time in the upcoming season but no need to diss on the young man for an injury out of his control.
Quaintance will have a boom or bust impact next year. CBS Sports says the questions about Quaintance coming off of the ACL tear are fair, but he, without question, will put up incredible numbers once he is back at 100%. Quaintance is going to be a lottery pick, but he has the upside to be the number one overall pick if he puts up solid numbers this season at Kentucky. The real question is when will he be 100% healthy? Who will get Pope’s last scholarship? Because of the uncertainty with Quaintance, I would go for another BIG.