Somto Cyril, Karter Knox will play on the same OTE team this season
At the Overtime Elite Pro Day on Tuesday, future Kentucky center Somto Cyril and uncommitted wing Karter Knox were among the stars of the event. This season — their last as high schoolers — they’ll team up together on a brand new OTE squad called RWE (Rod Wave Elite).
On Friday, Overtime Elite announced its finalized recruiting class and rosters for the upcoming 2023-24 basketball season, which will be the third season in the league’s short history. Rosters for all three of the Atlanta-based teams — the City Reapers, the Cold Hearts, and the newest addition, RWE — were listed. Led by head coach Corey Frazier, RWE will feature both Cyril and Knox.
Cyril is a four-star class of 2024 prospect who committed to Kentucky in late June. He was named a top performer at Pro Day by On3 and posted the second-highest vertical at 41 inches. Meanwhile, Knox, a five-star recruit from the same class, is being courted primarily by the Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals. He was named On3’s OTE Pro Day MVP following his performance earlier this week. UK assistant coach Orlando Antigua was in attendance to watch both players.
Cyril was a member of the Cold Hearts during his first season with OTE in 2022-23. During that time, he averaged 8.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks in 20.3 minutes. He was teammates with current Kentucky freshman point guard Rob Dillingham. There had been talk about Cyril potentially reclassifying and joining this year’s Kentucky roster, but as of right now, it appears he will stick with OTE before joining UK for the 2024-25 season.
And if that remains the case, he’ll have the perfect opportunity to make his recruiting pitch to Knox, who is considered the No. 8 overall senior in the country by the On3 Industry Ranking. The younger brother of former Wildcat Kevin Knox, Karter was the clear-cut star of OTE’s Pro Day. He spent last season at Tampa Catholic in Florida before transferring to OTE for 2023-24.
“Known as a slasher, the jump shot fell, and he took it with confidence,” On3’s Jamie Shaw wrote about Knox’s Pro Day performance. “The balance looked improved with the jump shot. He had a consistent release and got his feet under him when shooting off movement. He has upside on the defensive end, especially in the passing lanes, but I would like to see him give a more consistent effort on that end.”
Kentucky head coach John Calipari and a couple of his assistants made a trip to Atlanta just last week to check in with both Cyril and Knox. Although no future visits have been planned, Knox recently told Jacob Polacheck of KSR+ that he’ll be in Lexington “pretty soon”. With Cyril already committed, it’s likely he’ll make a visit to UK sometime this fall.
All games for OTE this season will be available to watch through streaming on Amazon Prime.
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