Mark Pope has worked incredibly hard to assemble quite a stellar roster for the upcoming college basketball season.
Pope attacked the transfer portal and brought in Jayden Quaintance, one of the biggest pieces to the new roster for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Quaintance was originally committed to Kentucky before the coaching changes in Lexington, then headed to Arizona State and had an impressive freshman season. He earned Big 12 All-Freshman Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team accolades while averaging 9.4 points and 7.9 rebounds before tearing his ACL.
That is the risk of bringing him on board in Lexington, but he is a high-reward caliber player, and CBS Sports thinks so too.
CBS Sports recently posted a very early 2026 NBA Mock Draft, and Quaintance is projected to be a top-five draft pick.
Quaintance averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 24 appearances at Arizona State last season and is widely regarded as the best NBA prospect among returning college players. The 6-9 forward is now at Kentucky and recovering from ACL injury; so a lot has changed in the past year. But the still-17-year-old still has elite physical tools that should keep him in the top 10 of draft boards heading into the summer.
Hopefully, the ACL injury continues moving in the right direction, and Jayden can help bring banner number 9 back to Lexington this year.