Let’s get this part out of the way first: No, even if Kentucky is still desperate for a rim protector come January, Somto Cyril is not going to leave Overtime Elite midseason and join the Wildcats for the spring semester and Southeastern Conference play. He’s said as much before, but since none of John Calipari’s three 7-footers is available, it merited asking again.

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“I have a goal set for myself — I want to win a championship here before I leave — and I have other things, boxes I need to check off, before I head to Lexington,” said Cyril, who planned to sign his national letter of intent with UK when college basketball’s early signing period opened Wednesday. “I’m focused on getting better, and I think they’ll appreciate having a better version of me than I am right now. Kentucky will have a good time with a better version of Somto.”

Cyril, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound menace around the rim, is ranked the No. 52 prospect in the 2024 high school class. That might be too low. He recently put up 17 points and 18 rebounds in a win over Cameron Boozer, the No. 2 player in 2025, and then for an encore posted a triple-double with blocks. He was OTE’s defensive player of the year last season and is averaging 11.6 points, 11.7 boards and 3.6 blocks this preseason.

“To see where he’s come, from day one, just being a big, athletic guy and natural shot-blocker, to now starting to really understand who he is as a player and really hold himself accountable to what he’s going to be when he gets to Kentucky, has been really cool,” said Corey Frazier, Cyril’s coach and director of player development at OTE. “The biggest thing was finding out how Kentucky was going to use him and really molding and shaping him to be ready when he gets there. That was mainly being a huge presence but also being a good-passing post and being able to catch the ball on the reversal and get into handoffs a lot better. The last thing is the mental aspect. He’s more focused on doing the work than he’s ever been. Now he has a purpose, understands the plan, and he’s just executing the plan.”

As much as some Kentucky fans would love that plan to include an early arrival, because what he brings to the table is the only thing currently missing from a team loaded with talented guards, patience is required. Cyril — who grew up playing soccer in Nigeria and “didn’t really touch a basketball until I was 13,” much like former Wildcats star Oscar Tshiebwe — recognizes that he’s a few steps behind developmentally and would prefer to polish his game a bit more before taking the biggest stage in college basketball. That doesn’t mean he is not eager to arrive.

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“Kentucky has been the school — I loved the school — even before I got to the States,” he said. “When I started playing basketball, I learned about Kentucky. Everybody knows about Kentucky, I think, even outside the States.”

Calipari can thank the YouTube algorithm for that. As a 14-year-old Cyril’s curiosity about this strange new game intensified, he searched for highlights of big men he could emulate. He clicked on a video of Anthony Davis playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, then YouTube suggested a reel of his top plays at Kentucky.

“I would like to be like that one day,” Cyril remembers thinking. “That is a place I would like to be if I have that opportunity.”

When he came to the U.S., Cyril began his high school career at Hamilton Heights in Chattanooga, Tenn., the same school where former UK star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played. That meant Calipari and assistant coach Orlando Antigua were almost immediately made aware of this relative unknown who was built like a young Shaquille O’Neal. When he moved to OTE last season, they could not help but notice his rapidly improving skills every time they showed up to check on Rob Dillingham, who’s now a freshman with the Wildcats.

“I feel like I’m just scratching the surface of what I can do with basketball,” Cyril said. “I’ve seen so much progress in the way I see the game, my IQ with the game, everything about it, and it’s going to be so much better with time. When I started playing, I was given a role, and I’ve been doing my job since day one, so I feel like I can play with any team because I’ll do whatever helps the team win. Every team needs a guy who will dominate defensively, and I think I bring that to the table, and even more. They told me the main thing they like is the way I play the game, the love, the energy, the motor.”

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Kentucky also wouldn’t mind if he brings along his OTE teammate, Karter Knox, the No. 11 player in the 2024 class and younger brother of former Wildcats star Kevin Knox. For now, Cyril and five-star guard Boogie Fland are the only two members of UK’s next class. That could change soon, as Knox and two other five-stars — No. 8 Jayden Quaintance and No. 22 Billy Richmond, whose father played for Calipari at Memphis and who now plays at Kentucky pipeline Camden (N.J.) High — have the Cats among their final four options.

For Cyril, the first member of this UK class, there was never really any other choice. From that first Davis highlight reel to watching Tshiebwe blaze a path like his own to studying the list of Calipari-coached big men who’ve thrived in the NBA, it was basically a no-brainer.

“Knowing that Oscar is a guy who was in a similar situation and was given the opportunity and was ready for it, it feels good to know that people have done that before,” Cyril said. “Those things are under consideration when you make your decision. I had a chance to talk to Boogie Cousins because I have a relationship with him. I tried to reach out to guys who’ve been there before, who’ve experienced what I’m about to do, to have someone tell me what to expect and what to get ready for. Boogie came in and trusted Cal, did what he was supposed to do, and he helped him get where he was supposed to be. I think it will be the same for me.”

Calipari has long insisted that if you don’t have a post presence, your team is a fraud. He’s been saying that more lately because he is concerned about not having any of his shot-blockers available. All of his best teams at Kentucky have featured an elite rim protector, and that’s been missing for a few years now in Lexington. So it’s understandable that some fans would love to see Cyril, who is already 18 and could graduate high school by December, go ahead and enroll midseason. Whatever he might yet become, he’s already an intimidator in the paint — and only getting better in that area.

“It’s really been good to see him evolve into talking more defensively,” Frazier said. “He’s done a really good job with his voice, letting guys know, ‘I’m behind you — send him this way, send him that way.’ It helps him be even more special and it lets the guys with the ball in their hands know: You might not wanna come this way. We try to funnel the first play to him. We tell him on the first play, ‘I don’t care if it’s goaltending; block it anyway.’ He’s trying to send that message early, and I think it works for the most part. They know they gotta see him every time they come inside.”

(Photo: Courtesy of Overtime Elite)