Sometimes creativity looks like chaos from the outside, this is one of those moments.
Pope revealed that Jayden Quaintance spent practice repping at the four.
Yes, the four. And he wasn’t joking.
“JQ played four all day yesterday… It gives us a different look. It’s pretty exciting.” Is this permanent? No. Is this the kind of swing a coach takes when he believes his roster has untapped matchups Absolutely.
Will Jayden Quaintance at the 4 actually work?
JQ has:
- burst
- solid handle for a big guy
- playmaking touch
- defensive versatility that’s growing by the week
The big question is his shooting. If he can stretch the floor from the four spot, it forces defenses to cover space they don’t want to.
It changes the geometry of the court. It creates driving lanes. It weaponizes confusion.
But if it doesn't work, then it could go really badly. It can clog the lane, make defense sag completely off the perimeter and dare Kentucky to shoot them out of that shell. And so far at just over 34 percent, Kentucky has not shown the ability to do that just yet.
It does also says something else:
Pope trusts him. Trust is currency in college basketball.
Mark Pope didn’t hold back on JQ’s future
This wasn’t coach-speak. This was belief.
“He’s doing things he’s never done before… I wouldn’t put a limit on what he can accomplish this season.”
Some players get minutes. Some get investment. Quaintance is getting investment.
And if it pays off? BBN is going to remember the moment Pope got weird with the lineup and unlocked something. The last few games we have seen a lot of high-low sets with big to big passing from the top of the key to the post, but this will only work with spacing. Spacing only happens if shots are going in.
The bottom line
This isn’t desperation. This is experimentation with purpose. Kentucky is not trying to survive SEC play. They’re trying to weaponize options.
That’s how March rosters are built.
Not with what works today but what might break someone in February. But we will need to see it actually work in game before we are ready to say roll out Jayden at the 4 on a regular basis.