Will Somto Cyril reclassify and join UK basketball a year early? This is what he says.
During a Kentucky men’s basketball offseason where roster construction was the main topic of discussion, one player was frequently cited as a potential fix to some of UK’s frontcourt issues.
Somto Cyril — a 6-foot-10, 241-pound center who plays in the Overtime Elite league — committed to Kentucky in late June. Currently, he represents UK’s lone commit in the 2024 recruiting class.
But even before his commitment to the Wildcats, Cyril was frequently discussed as a candidate to reclassify to the 2023 recruiting class.
The desire among UK fans to have Cyril — who was named the Overtime Elite Defensive Player of the Year last season — in Lexington a year ahead of schedule only grew following injuries to Kentucky’s two centers this summer: freshman Aaron Bradshaw and sophomore Ugonna Onyenso.
Both Bradshaw and Onyenso are sidelined due to medical procedures undergone because of their injuries, and neither played during UK’s gold-medal winning performance at the GLOBL JAM tournament this month.
Given this uncertainty in the frontcourt, is there any chance for Cyril to reclassify and join John Calipari’s squad before, or during, the 2023-24 season?
During an interview Wednesday, Cyril kept the door firmly closed on that possibility.
Despite the injuries to Bradshaw and Onyenso, Cyril said “yes, definitely,” when asked by the Herald-Leader if his plan was still to arrive at Kentucky in 2024.
Cyril provided this update during an afternoon media session at the University of Dayton’s campus rec center in Dayton, Ohio. The media session occurred just hours before Cyril was to make history as the first amateur player to participate in The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
Cyril is playing in TBT with Team Overtime, a squad featuring several other current and former players from the Overtime Elite league.
It should be noted that Cyril’s comments Wednesday fell in line with other public comments since his commitment to UK in late June: That he intends to stay in the 2024 class and play a second season at Overtime Elite.
“I just want to get better overall,” Cyril said when asked by the Herald-Leader how he plans to use his time at OTE to prepare for his arrival at Kentucky. “I’ve gotten so much better since I’ve been at Overtime Elite, and I feel like one extra year could help me. ... I want to be at (UK) and help them any way I could, to win championships, just win games overall. So I feel like the more time I spend at OTE can help me be a better player.”
Cyril, who was born in Nigeria and moved the the United States in 2021, is the only player in the 2024 class to be committed to the Wildcats.
UK currently has 16 scholarship offers out to players in the class of 2024.
Cyril told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday that he was happy the weight of making his college commitment had already been lifted.
“It feels good to get a lot of pressure off me from other schools, too. I feel like for my mindset right now ... that’s the best thing for me.”
During a press conference in June prior to the GLOBL JAM tournament, Calipari left the door open for the Cats to add another player to their 2023-24 roster via the NCAA transfer portal.
“Will we do anything else?” Calipari said. “I don’t believe so, but what if this happens and that happens? Maybe we would. It’s a little different environment.”
“Because everything has changed, you have a lot of teams — they need guys,” Calipari added. “I’m going to make a guess ... I would say 10 more transfers will happen, maybe in August.”
This story was originally published July 26, 2023 at 12:57 PM.
