KSR Today: New commits for basketball and football

Good morning, folks! Wednesday was quite an important day for UK Athletics. Most notably, the basketball and football programs picked up new class of 2024 commits — both coming as pleasant surprises to the Big Blue Nation.

On the hardwood, John Calipari picked up a commitment from four-star center Somto Cyril (the first for the 2024 class), who has long been rumored as a lock for the Wildcats — the only question was if the 6-foot-10 big man could earn enough school credits in time to join the team ahead of the 2023-24 season. So far, reports indicate that Cyril will stay in the class of 2024 and join the team next season. But don’t discount the possibility of the Nigerian native finding his way onto campus before then.

Shortly after news of Cyril’s commitment broke, the Sources Say crew got right down to business with another jam-packed episode filled with news and scoop.

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On the gridiron, Mark Stoops received a commitment from three-star EDGE Caleb Redd out of Saint Louis (MO) DeSmet. The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder chose the Wildcats over the likes of Kansas State, Nebraska, Southern California, Oklahoma, and Oregon — an excellent recruiting win for safeties coach Frank Buffano and the program. Kentucky now has 10 pledges in place for the 2024 class with more potentially on the way in the coming days.

Speaking of…

Recruiting decisions loom

Starting on Friday, a significant stretch of football recruiting decisions will kick off. Over a half-dozen class of 2024 Kentucky targets intend to announce their commitments between tomorrow and the Fourth of July on Tuesday. Could we see some more #Yahtzees in the near future?

Friday, June 30

Dominic Kirks (DL) 6-5, 250 | Villa Angela-St. Joseph (Cleveland, OH) trending Washington
4-star: No. 387 overall, No. 34 DL

Makai Byerson (EDGE) 6-3, 235 | Manchester (Richmond, VA) trending West Virginia
3-star: No. 734 overall, No. 46 EDGE

Saturday, July 1

Elijah Groves (ATH) 6-5, 210 | East Robertson (Cross Plains, TN) no clear frontrunner
3-star

Jac’Qawn McRoy (OT) 6-8, 340 | Clay-Chalkville (Pinson, AL) trending Oregon
4-star: No. 188 overall, No. 16 OT

Sunday, July 2

Terhyon Nichols (CB) 5-10, 185 | Withrow (Cincinnati, OH) trending Kentucky
4-star: No. 270 overall, No. 28 CB

Tuesday, July 4

Cam Dooley (ATH) 6-4, 195 | Valley (Valley, AL) trending Kentucky

Cameron Keys (CB) 6-0, 160 | A. Crawford Mosley (Panama City, FL) trending Missouri
4-star: No. 283 overall, No. 30 CB

Alex Foster (DL) 6-5, 250 | St. Joseph (Greenville, MS) no clear frontrunner
3-star: No. 892 overall, No. 85 DL

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Kentucky MBB to host Miami (FL)

It’s not Duke or North Carolina, but a ranked ACC team will still come to Rupp Arena this fall. The Wildcats are set to host the Miami (FL) Hurricanes on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. EST in Lexington as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. The will be just the fifth matchup in history between these two programs and the first with Calipari as head coach.

Below are the rest of the cross-conference matchups. Interestingly enough, Louisville was the lone school not included in the event.

Tuesday, Nov. 28

Syracuse vs. LSU – 7 p.m. ET
Pitt vs. Mizzou – 7 p.m. ET
Georgia Tech vs. Mississippi State – 7 p.m. ET
South Carolina vs. Notre Dame – 7 p.m. ET
Kentucky vs. Miami (FL) – 7:30 p.m. ET
Ole Miss vs. NC State – 9 p.m. ET
Alabama vs. Clemson – 9:30 p.m. ET

Wednesday, Nov. 29

North Carolina vs. Tennessee – 7:15 p.m. ET
Virginia vs. Texas A&M – 7:15 p.m. ET
Wake Forest vs. Florida – 7:15 p.m. ET
Arkansas vs. Duke – 9:15 p.m. ET
Auburn vs. Virginia Tech – 9:15 p.m. ET
Florida State vs. Georgia – 9:15 p.m. ET
Vanderbilt vs. Boston College – 9:15 p.m. ET

WBB’s SEC schedule released

In other scheduling news, Kyra Elzy’s squad learned of its SEC opponents for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

As usual, Kentucky will face 16 intraconference opponents — eight at home (which will be at Rupp Arena or Transylvania’s Clive M. Beck Center this season while Memorial Coliseum is undergoing renovations) and eight on the road. The ‘Cats will play a trio of SEC teams twice for home-and-homes: South Carolina (permanent opponent), Mississippi State, and Arkansas. UK also learned of its ACC/SEC Challenge opponent, which will against Boston College in Lexington on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

* Denotes home-and-home contests.

2023-24 SEC Home Games
Arkansas*
Florida
Mississippi State*
Missouri
Ole Miss
South Carolina*
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt

2023-24 SEC Away Games
Alabama
Arkansas*
Auburn
Georgia
LSU
Mississippi State*
South Carolina*
Tennessee

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MBB jersey numbers announced

From the looks of it, Kentucky’s 2023-24 roster has been filled out. Regardless of what ultimately happens with Cyril’s arrival on campus, he won’t be joining the team when they head to Toronto for the GLOBL JAM in less than two weeks. As for the players that will be playing in Canada, we’ll at least know who is who. UK announced all 15 jersey numbers for the upcoming season.

Below is the complete list of uniform numbers, accompanied by some practice highlights:

• 0 – Rob Dillingham
• 1 – Justin Edwards
• 2 – Aaron Bradshaw
• 3 – Adou Thiero
• 4 – Tre Mitchell
• 12 – Antonio Reeves
• 13 – Grant Darbyshire
• 14 – Brennan Canada
• 15 – Reed Sheppard
• 20 – Joey Hart
• 21 – DJ Wagner
• 22 – Walker Horn
• 23 – Jordan Burks
• 25 – Kareem Watkins
• 33 – Ugonna Onyenso

Let's get started 😎#GoBigBlue pic.twitter.com/9tOmwB3Xmc

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) June 29, 2023

Oscar Tshiebwe stopped by practice

Staying on the topic of practice, Tshiebwe stopped by the Joe Craft Center in Lexington to check in with his former college program and watch the new Kentucky men’s basketball team in action. The 6-foot-9 center was sporting a brightly-colored Indiana Pacers shirt, representing the franchise that signed him to a two-way contract after he went unselected in the 2023 NBA Draft last week.

Tshiebwe addressed the Big Blue Nation with a heartful message and hope that the 2023-24 Wildcats can win the national championship.

“Hey BBN. Oscar Tshiebwe, the Big O,” the two-time All-American said. “I had to stop by, watch the practice before I take off so I wanted to say hello and I appreciate you guys. I watched the practice, lot of good players. I am so happy and I can’t wait. I’m gonna keep motivating my boys until we get this number nine. Let’s go ‘Cats!”

Big O had to stop by practice one more time before taking off for the Summer League.#LaFamilia x @Oscartshiebwe34 pic.twitter.com/g1uaT6J9Et

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) June 28, 2023

Of all the things you love to see, this is certainly one of them.

That’s all I’ve got for you this morning. Make sure you tune into KSR in an hour from 10am-noon for another guest host edition of the show. Today, we’ve got ESPN/SEC Network studio anchor Peter Burns on the mic. We’ll see you then.