Nearing Kentucky debut, Mark Pope says 'no tempering expectations' with Jayden Quaintance

It started as jogging and jumping, then 5-on-0, followed by 1-on-1, 2-on-2 and 3-on-3. Once we turned to December, the full-contact 5-on-5 started for Jayden Quaintance — but only as a half-court participant, Mark Pope saying “he’s still a ways away from actually seeing in-game live action” but “making tremendous progress.”

Up next? Full-court, full-contact 5-on-5. That came for the very first time this week, a sign the prized portal addition’s return is imminent.

Well, in the final stages of the ramp-up process, at least, while also factoring in system comfort and conditioning. But he couldn’t be closer without actually playing in games.

Seeing that with his own eyes — plus Mo Dioubate making his return to practice, giving Kentucky a completely healthy roster for the very first time — was a special moment for the second-year coach desperate to find the wins where he can get them at this point in the season.

“Yesterday was a really significantly special day because we had a half-court segment and it was semi-controlled contact,” Pope told KSR on Friday. “For the first time ever, including in the summer, we had all of our guys on the practice floor.”

Quaintance’s near-return marks the end of a recovery process that started back in March when he underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL. After nine long months, it’s about that time to unleash the beast, a likely future lottery pick with superstar upside — especially on the defensive end.

What’s it been like to see that vision become a reality, going from recruiting his first big fish in the portal to watching him suit up in the blue and white with the rest of his Kentucky teammates?

“It was pretty exciting for us. JQ’s got a tremendous skill set. He’s going to have a massive learning curve to try and catch up, but he’s making incredible progress,” Pope said. “What (strength coach) Randy (Towner) and (trainer) Brandon Wells have done with him is probably going to be in medical articles about it with his recovery and his return to play — and all the while being insanely cautious with how we do it … His progress has been immense.”

He was brought in to tear the rim off the goal offensively and send shots into the stands defensively. Those traits are already coming to life at the Joe Craft Center.

“He’s one of the top shot blockers in the country last year, he’s got a really unique physicality where he can still grow into it — he could actually get more physical,” Pope continued. “We had some possessions yesterday where it was a competitive day and guys were racing in trying to make a play at the rim, then JQ came out of nowhere and kind of sent it. There are still marks on the wall from him blocking shots [laughs].”

So, what about the real question: When’s he gonna play? Are we to the game-by-game threshold yet?

Pope’s answers were somewhat inconsistent there, starting off on the conservative end — our latest milestone was only crossing half court in 5-on-5, to be blunt — before finishing with some ambition.

“He’s a great young man and I’m so excited about, here in the next month or so, having an opportunity to incorporate him into our games,” Pope said. “Yesterday was the first time he actually crossed half court with us. It was very limited reps and it was controlled, but he did cross half court.

“He’s had so many markers along the way, but that’s another big one. We’re hoping now that we’re into the days and weeks more than we are the months, which is exciting.”

Oh, there we go. Days and weeks is much better.

As for what to expect when that time comes, it’d be easy to leave the training wheels on and acknowledge there might be some real rust — but Jayden Quaintance is kind of a different animal, right? You don’t bring in a superstar talent and limit his potential to pretty good.

Again, that’s what we do here at Kentucky. The expectation is the expectation and the standard is the standard. They haven’t been met up to this point in year two for Pope, but Quaintance is going to be a big reason for the turnaround.

“We don’t (want to use caution when it comes to expectations),” he said. “The expectation is super high. He’s really talented and it’s gonna be a huge on-ramp for him. He’s got so much he has to learn about us, and there are gonna be super messy moments, but there are going to be great moments.

“No tempering expectations — we got big expectations for him.”

Music to BBN’s ears — and they sure could use some sweet tunes right now.