NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Impact of 5-star Jayden Quaintance's shocking move to Arizona State

Impact of Jayden Quaintance’s move for Louisville and Memphis

When the 5-star big man re-opened his recruitment, there was a brief look at whether Kentucky had a chance to keep him. And while there seemed to have been some talk between the camps, new Coach Mark Pope opted to find some veteran frontcourt players instead, landing Drexel transfer Amari Williams and reportedly in hot pursuit of Utah State transfer, Great Osobor.

There also was a chance that Quaintance could’ve simply followed HC John Calipari over to Arkansas, as a couple of other former Kentucky commits have already done so. But the Razorbacks seemed to move on as well, recently landing Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo to fill the starting center spot.

Memphis HC Penny Hardaway can’t help but get involved in a high-level offseason recruitment and he has wins over Calipari in that department. But in the end, the Tigers never got a visit, set to focus more on bringing back former starter Moussa Cisse home after playing at Ole Miss last season.

The big “loser” may have been Louisville, who went all out to try and land Quaintance. New head coach Pat Kelsey was looking to make a major statement in the state by getting the five-star prospect and looked to be close, before losing to Arizona State. They’re still in need of a center for next season since BYU transfer Aly Khalifa is already set to redshirt for next year.