Jayden Quaintance says Auburn made a push, but Mark Pope put Kentucky on top

The more I hear from Jayden Quaintance, the more I like him. Earlier today, the one-time Kentucky signee went on Field of 68 to talk about his decision to reunite with the Wildcats after one season at Arizona State. We heard a lot of his comments about Mark Pope and Kentucky during his interview on KSR on Tuesday, but there are a few more things worth passing along, most notably about his recruitment.

Quaintance entered the transfer portal on April 3 and committed to Kentucky five days later. In his conversation with Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman, the big man confirmed that Auburn was the other program that recruited him the most, but his father, Haminn, handled most of the conversations.

“I hopped in the portal a little later than some others, but again, my dad, he’s been a big help for me, kind of navigating the portal and navigating college coaches and the college thing I’m trying to do. So he’s done a lot of talking to coaches for me, you know, vetting out a lot of my options. So he helped me with that. I wasn’t really talking to as many coaches as some other people might have been.

“It was really [Kentucky] and Auburn, were really the only schools I talked to that heavily. So it wasn’t really as strenuous as it might have been for some other prospects because I had my dad there helping me along the way.”

What put Kentucky over the top for the Quaintances? Obviously, they were familiar with the program after his high school recruitment and even listened to Mark Pope’s pitch after John Calipari left for Arkansas. Even though he went to Arizona State for his freshman season, Quaintance liked what Pope did in year one at Kentucky, specifically with his big men on offense. As a Sun Devil, he averaged 9.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks in 29 minutes per game. He’s looking forward to expanding his game in Pope’s system.

“This offense is a lot more open and has a lot better spacing than I’ve kind of been used to, so it’s going to be a lot more backdoor opportunities, you know, getting the paint, making the next pass, you know, just make a lot more winning players be able to get your team involved a little bit more, get into an easier flow. And I feel like I’m gonna be able to, again, show off my versatility, passing and playing with space. I feel like I’m gonna be able to flourish in that role.”

There aren’t a ton of examples of a player signing with a program under one coach, deciding to go somewhere else when that coach leaves, and then transferring back to the program to play under the new coach. Quaintance said Pope’s enthusiasm and history as a big man himself eased any concerns about his fit in Lexington.

“I don’t think it’s really that weird. You know, the coach showed the most interest out of anybody that I talked to. He seemed really excited to have me here and be able to show what I could do and how I could fit in this program and help this program and that we have a real chance to win the national title and win games here. So I felt like this was kind of the best fit for me, especially with Pope being like a bigger player, like he kind of knows where I need to improve, what I need to work on. He kind of knows what I have to go through and what I have to work on really well.”

In an interview with ESPN, his father shared more about Pope’s pitch, including how they would help Jayden work his way back to the court after his ACL surgery last month (Jayden said his recovery is going great, by the way).

“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,” Haminn Quaintance told Jonathan Givony. “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.”

Quaintance was just 16 years old when he arrived at Arizona State, the youngest player in college basketball last season. Even so, he was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman and All-Defensive teams, only the fifth player in conference history to earn that distinction. Because of his age, he isn’t eligible for the draft until 2026. He told Goodman and Dauster that he has no regrets about graduating high school a year early and learned a lot in his first year of college basketball; however, he’s ready to take his game to the next level at Kentucky.

“I was looking for a change, obviously, a kind of offense that was a little higher paced, just a situation I felt that could showcase my versatility a little more, and I felt like Kentucky was the perfect place. I felt like I had a great relationship with the coaches and the fans. The fans always showed a lot of support throughout my journey, especially after I committed. It was a lot of fan love and love from the Kentucky community. So I just felt like this was a great fit for me personally.”

Can’t wait. Enjoy the interview below.