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Kentucky brings former elite recruit back home with a plan
Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have been busy in the transfer portal.
They recently added Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate via the transfer portal, and a few days before that, Big Blue Nation landed the transfer commitment of former Pitt star Jaland Lowe. He averaged 16.8 points per game while dishing out 4.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per contest last season for the Panthers and was their best player.
Now, it's being reported that former Arizona State center Jayden Quaintance is committing to the Wildcats via the transfer portal. This will be a homecoming of sorts for Quaintance. He had originally committed and signed with Kentucky coming out of high school, but he backed out of that pledge when John Calipari ended up at Arkansas.
Pope and Kentucky couldn't retain him at the time, and he ended up at ASU, but now he's back.
NEWS: ASU transfer Jayden Quaintance, a projected top-5 pick in 2026, has committed to Mark Pope and Kentucky, his father Haminn, told ESPN.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 8, 2025
Quaintance decommitted from Kentucky precisely a year ago after John Calipari left for Arkansas.
STORY: https://t.co/BXza2vhqzX pic.twitter.com/woe1gvYD6T
This is big for Kentucky because Quaintance has star potential. He was a five-star recruit in 2024, ranked as the consensus No. 2 center in the class behind only Duke's Khaman Maluach.
At 6-foot-9, 230 pounds as a freshman for ASU, he averaged 9.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. As such, he was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman and All-Defensive teams.
He played and started in 24 games for the Sun Devils but suffered a torn ACL in late February that required surgery.
Quaintance's father, Haminn Quaintance, told Jonathan Givony of ESPN that his son is expected to be ready to go by the start of the 2025 season.
"Kentucky presented us with a very detailed plan for how they plan on bringing Jayden back with the trainers and how they want to use him once he's healthy," the elder Quaintance said. "The way that they use their big men as offensive hubs, he really fits into that system. Jayden didn't want to go somewhere where he'd just be a screener. Coach Pope made him feel really good. They went really deep on the analytics, going into things most coaches don't even think of."
Auburn, USC, Kansas and Ohio State were also in the running for Quaintance, but ultimately, Kentucky brought him back home.
More must-reads:
- Former Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate transfers to Kentucky
- Ranking the NCAA men's tournament champions since 1990
- The 'Kentucky men's basketball coaches' quiz
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