Ben BabyMar 22, 2026, 08:00 AM ETClose- Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN's NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
ST. LOUIS -- While the rest of the Kentucky men's basketball team was fielding questions about Sunday's game against Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Jayden Quaintance was reading.
Amid the cramped and muggy quarters inside the Wildcats' locker room at the Enterprise Center, Quaintance was entrenched in an issue of "Berserk," a popular manga -- a genre of Japanese graphic novels. While the freshman recovers from a major right knee injury that has kept him off the court all season, he makes the most of the extra time reading. The Japanese series has been one of his go-to reads while he bides time until he gets back onto the court.
"I watched anime a lot last year, but I never really got into reading as much," said Quaintance, who said he liked to be focused on the task at hand ahead of games. "But having a lot more free time nowadays, just a nice hobby to have."
Quaintance, a consensus 5-star prospect out of high school and a former McDonald's All-American, is dealing with complications from a torn ACL and meniscus that he suffered in his right knee in February 2025 while playing with Arizona State. He played four games this season but has been out since Jan. 7 because of swelling in the knee.
At his locker Saturday, he had one copy of Berserk in his hand and another sitting beside him. He estimated 15 or 16 copies were with him during the team's trip to St. Louis that was extended following the 7-seed Wildcats' dramatic overtime win over 10-seed Santa Clara on Friday.
Growing up in Cleveland, Quaintance enjoyed watching anime. He binged all three seasons of "Jujutsu Kaisen" in three days, decided he wanted to learn more about the series that weren't adapted to anime yet and picked up the manga series. It's essentially like reading the books of a popular series before the next movie comes out.
Along with Berserk, Quaintance said he's also currently into "One-Punch Man," which is a much lighter read.
The 18-year-old said that he received a steroid injection in his knee and could potentially be cleared to practice again within the next two weeks, which is notable for his future.
Quaintance is the No. 18 prospect in ESPN's latest 2026 NBA draft rankings and says he will "most likely" declare for the draft at the end of this season. Quaintance said his return timeline is shaping up well for the potential predraft process as the 6-foot-10 forward looks to show prospective franchises that the knee is healthy and he remains the same player he was before. Whenever he starts playing again, he wants to continue reading habit.
"I feel like [reading manga] and just reading normal books, I feel like it's something that I want to make more of a habit in my everyday life," Quaintance said. "And I've been enjoying it a lot, so I'm glad I kind of had this time to reflect and find something."
