Mark Pope is still unsure if Jayden Quaintance will debut vs St. John's

Kentucky fans have been waiting for what feels like forever with the debut of Jayden Quaintance. The 6-10 big man is very close to taking the court for the Wildcats. Mark Pope said Monday, "We're down to days and hours and maybe a week or so." That was a much different tone than the "days and weeks" verbiage he used just days earlier.

Now, with nearly a whole week under his belt, Quaintance crossed half-court in 5-on-5 for the first time on Tuesday, and has been game-ready for a few days. With just one practice to go, Mark Pope says it's still a "we'll see" type of approach as to whether or not the highly-touted draft prospect takes the floor on Saturday in Atlanta against Rick Pitino and St. John's.

"(Tuesday) was the first time ever he's ever he crossed half court in some drill work, so that was good. We'll see how he is today, and he's making incredible progress. That's kind of a day by day thing. And once he's confident and healthy and cleared, we'll roll." Is there a chance of him stepping onto the court on Saturday with tons of eyes on him? "You think about it, like, he's been out of basketball for nine months and crossed half court for the first time in a drill two days ago. So we'll see, I mean he's done an unbelievable job on his rehab, and he's kept up with everything in terms of having a off the court concept of what we're trying to do, and so every every day is probably going to paint a clearer picture for us."

When he does return, Pope added that he will certainly be on a minutes restriction and will ease his way into the rotation and get his conditioning ramped up. What will Quaintance, who is one of the top NBA Draft prospects, bring to the table for this Kentucky team? "He's proven to have an incredible impact on the defensive end of the floor in terms of his mobility, his physicality, his rim protection. He's got the capability to be an elite level transition offensive player. He takes up space offensively. I think he's a guy that we could live with in isolation a little bit. I think he's a high IQ player that's going to really pick up the feel of how we play quickly."

Big Blue Nation has been waiting patiently for Quaintance to return, but they've started getting irritated the last few weeks during the slow ramp-up process in practice. They're eager to see the star big man take the floor, one who could change the ceiling of this team tremendously, a team that is off to a 7-4 start to the season.