Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesFive-star center Jayden Quaintance, ranked eighth overall on the 247Sports composite list of class of 2024 high school men's basketball players, has requested his release from his letter of intent to Kentucky.
Quaintance's father revealed the news to 247Sports Director of Basketball Eric Bossi.
The request comes in the wake of ex-Kentucky head coach John Calipari leading the Wildcats for Arkansas. Per Brandon Jenkins of 247Sports, "the expectation is for Quaintance to follow Calipari to Fayetteville and commit to the Razorbacks."
Quaintance initially committed to UK last November and said that Calipari's influence played a key factor.
"They've had guard success, but they've had good success with bigs, a lot more than other colleges. Coach (John) Calipari has been showing a lot of love, and Coach Chin (Coleman), too," Quaintance told On3's Joe Tipton. "Coach Cal has already come to Word of God twice to see me. We've been able to build a good relationship."
The Tigers could certainly be in play again, but it won't be a shock whatsoever to see Quaintance follow Coach Cal to Arkansas, especially given his previous comments.
Quaintance is a 6'9", 230-pound center who played ball at Word Of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina. He reclassified from the class of 2025 and doesn't turn 18 until July 2025.
In other words, he'll need to play two years post-high school before heading to the pros, so the potentially NBA-bound star could be a huge addition for any program that lands him given that he could be around for two seasons instead of perhaps just one.
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