Vicky Graff Photo
By LARRY VAUGHT
Maybe the help needed is on the way for coach Mark Pope’s team.
The Cats are 0-3 against ranked teams going into tonight’s game in Nashville against Gonzaga, and went over 10 minutes without a field goal in the second half of Tuesday’s loss to North Carolina.
Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance, a projected lottery pick, has yet to play this season after having ACL surgery in March.
Pope said Thursday that Quaintance has progressed to where he’s playing 5-on-5 now, but not against UK teammates. Instead, he’s working out with graduate assistants and others not on the team to prep him for the return to practice with his teammates.
The Kentucky coach said Quaintance “crushed” his most recent strength test, something he had to do before he could have full-contact workouts.
“We’re working him back into some parts of practice. He still can’t be a full scout team body, we’re not going to let him do that yet,” Pope said. “We’re going to bring him back slowly, but he’s actually played in some full-court 5-on-5 with our GAs. We grabbed a couple of kids from the rec center, and I think he had a lot of fun doing that.”
Pope has never given a timeline for Quaintance’s UK debut and didn’t again Thursday, but at least it seems clear the sophomore big man is getting closer to playing, and that would be a huge boost for the struggling Cats.
11 Responses
Shouldn’t pray just for his return – CAN pray for a 100% knee.
Barry I hope you read this, Your sense of believe that he won't play is baseless.
I hope you are right, but my source still says he will not play. JQ can dispel all of the talk by taking the court.
I agree. Been saying that from the start–another tease–Shaedon Sharpe 2.0
It's really not baseless. We've had this happen before with a lottery pick. They hyped him up that he would be ready by September 1st. Everyone knew that was insane but some people believed it. I think Pope even believed it. Not September but by the first game he would be almost ready. We're in December and he still isn't practicing with teammates. Once he starts practicing with his teammates probably in a couple weeks to a month he will be practicing with teammates. He will be game ready a couple weeks to a month after that. Just because he's ready doesn't mean he will play. My calculations is mid January to February by then so maybe 5 games into the conference schedule he might be ready. He might not. We will be 20 something games until he is ready. So he might play 15-20 games at the absolute most he will play. Maybe 10-15 games left. By then do you really need him? What makes you think he will play soon or in December or even January at that. January is only 3.5 weeks away and he surely won't be ready by then.
I just read an article where Will Stein told the team that this off season will be the hardest ever. He expects to compete and win in the SEC and if that doesn't happen, it won't be from a lack of conditioning and preparation. He said if you are not all in for next season, hit the transfer portal. Pope would do well to talk with Stein about this get tough approach. Pope has been way too lenient with his teams. His kids lack commitment and discipline to play for Kentucky and win for Kentucky because Pope has not demanded it. Up to now, he has let the kids be the boss and it will be hard to bring about a regime change in mid season…but that is what is needed to get this team back on track.
Like I've always said. Kentucky pampers there basketball team to much. The coach is soft the players are already soft they need discipline. Someone needs to jerk them out the game when they start playing hero ball. It makes me sick to watch the offense run plays. Watch when the center sets a fake pick on nobody. Then jogs to the basket. It's like they are barely moving. Mark Pope better hope most of this team comes back next year. We should have never gotten Aberdeen. Oweh should have went Pro and he would be playing in the D league right now. Then he would be cut from the D league. He is not a NBA player. He was good on a team that shared the ball and didn't care about scoring they just wanted to win. When Oweh plays hard he plays better. I don't think these guys have any motivation to get better. Hell they already had a great payday being mediocre. We went after a bunch of role players and our superstar is coming off acl surgery from 9 months ago. We have no go to guys. Chandler will be that man just not yet. He's still a sophomore. He's already better than Oweh was his sophomore year. He will be a All conference type next year. He will be on the cusp of it this year. Noah Chandler Moreno Johnson Williams Jelavic Hawthorne Potter Lowe will all be much better next year. He already has his nucleus in place to be much better next year. Yea it sucks but I think you have to give the guys that you absolutely know who will be back next year. Make them sign a contract everyone who wants to come back. That's the bad thing about Quaintance. He will only be here for maybe 15-18 games at the most. Do you ruin the development of both Garrison and Moreno to play him when we already have 8-10 losses. We will lose to Gonzaga I think we beat Indiana and we also lose to St Johns and who will push us around everywhere. So we will probably have 5 losses heading into conference. I know we will lose at least 6-7 conference games so your looking at possibly 11-12 losses maybe a little more maybe a little less. We will probably get knocked out in the 32 or sweet 16 at best. Which will set us up to have a monster season next year. If Pope don't get it done by next year he never will. In the portal era coaches get 3-4 years to improve a program if they dont the see the door. I like Pope I just don't think he has what it takes to win at the top of the food chain. With his offense wanting to shoot over 30 3s a game why would you not recruit great shooters? We have Noah who is a inconsistent shooter. Chandler the best shooter on the team. Williams is a fair shooter. Jelavic is probably 3rd or 4th then you have Johnson or Potter and that's it. So why does Aberdeen and Mo-D jack up so many contested 3s. It absolutely kills me that he lets them do that and doesn't take them out. I've seen Aberdeen shoot at least 10 air balls this season and Mo-D is right there with him. WTF?
If Pope loses 2 of 3 or all 3 of the next with either being very probable, he needs to be given a very short leash. Injuries do happen but not usually to this extent, and you still should have contingency plans at beginning of season not hit panic button a third of the way thru.
Newsflash. We will lose to Gonzaga. I bet anyone in here 100$ we lose to Gonzaga. If you know me you know I think Mark Few is one of the best coaches in college basketball. They have one of the best point guards in college basketball. Graham Ike is a monster down low. He might be one of the toughest players in college basketball he will eat us up down low. I watch Gonzaga play alot. They have good post play. They have great guards and there point guard is a great passer and shooter and he also leads the team in steals. They go 9-10 deep so your not going to wear them out. They are the most consistent team in college basketball being to 11 straight sweet 16s or better. I wanted Mark Few over MarK Pope.
Good bet! I bet they lose all of these next 3 games–IU, ST JOHNS, and BAMA–not that that is some "going-out-on-a-limb" prediction–but nonetheless, that's my prediction!
In my extensive athletic and coaching experience I’ve always found the chance for injury is MUCH greater against inferior talent than against similarly skilled peers. It’s not even close.