Kentucky enters basketball signing period with two 2024 commits. Who else might join?

Wednesday marks the start of the NCAA’s early signing period, which allows for class of 2024 recruits across the college sports landscape to confirm their commitments by signing a national letter of intent.

The start of this early signing period comes with plenty of excitement and interest for John Calipari and the Kentucky men’s basketball program.

UK already has two players committed in the class of 2024: Guard Boogie Fland and center Somto Cyril.

This time last year, the Wildcats were in position with a massive recruiting haul: The quintet of Aaron Bradshaw, Robert Dillingham, Justin Edwards, Reed Sheppard and D.J. Wagner all signed with the Cats during the fall signing period.

Those five players ended up forming the core of Kentucky’s top-ranked 2023 recruiting class, which also featured center Zvonimir Ivisic, small forward Jordan Burks and guard Joey Hart.

While UK is still a ways off from putting together the top-ranked recruiting class for 2024 — Duke currently owns that title — there’s still plenty to know about UK’s current commits (and soon to be signees) in the 2024 class, and who could join them going forward.

Here’s what you need to know about UK basketball and the 2024 early signing period.

Somto Cyril, Boogie Fland comprise UK’s 2024 recruiting class

Calipari has two class of 2024 players committed to come to Lexington.

In late June, center Somto Cyril became UK’s first class of 2024 pledge. A 6-foot-10 center who plays in the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite league, Cyril ranks as the No. 53 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class per the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI), which combines the rankings from the nation’s top recruiting services into one single metric.

Last month, guard Boogie Fland followed Cyril’s lead in committing to UK. A dynamic, 6-foot-2 guard from just outside of New York City, Fland is ranked by the RSCI as the No. 20 overall player in the 2024 class.

Per the 247Sports team recruiting rankings, UK’s two-player class ranks No. 21 in the 2024 cycle.

But there’s strong reason to expect UK’s 2024 recruiting group will soon grow in skill and size.

UK basketball in good spot with other 2024 recruits

Plenty of class of 2024 prospects are still uncommitted and considering UK as their next playing stop.

This group includes point guard Travis Perry, wing Billy Richmond, shooting guard V.J. Edgecombe, center Jayden Quaintance and small forward Karter Knox.

Of this group of players, the Wildcats are in good position with three prospects in particular: Richmond, Quaintance and Knox.

Richmond, whose father played for Calipari at Memphis, trimmed his list of schools under consideration to four last month: Alabama, Memphis, LSU and Kentucky are his finalists.

Richmond plays prep basketball at Camden (New Jersey) High School, which also produced current UK players Aaron Bradshaw and D.J. Wagner.

Quaintance reclassified from the 2025 to the 2024 recruiting group during the summer, and because of his young age he isn’t eligible for the NBA Draft until 2026. This means Quaintance is viewed as a two-year player at his next playing stop.

And it looks like that will be two years spent playing college basketball.

On Monday night, On3’s Joe Tipton reported Quaintance is no longer considering the NBA’s G-League Ignite as a post-high school playing option. Quaintance has narrowed his list of college options down to four schools: Florida, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio State. According to that On3 report, Quaintance doesn’t have a timetable to make his college decision.

Quaintance plays prep basketball at Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina, — the same school that produced former UK star John Wall — and Quaintance’s most recent recruiting visit was to Lexington late last month.

Knox is a younger brother of Kevin Knox, the former one-and-done star at UK and the No. 9 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Knox has a top-four list out of Louisville, South Florida, the NBA’s G-League Ignite and Kentucky. Knox has another older brother, Kobe, who plays at South Florida.

Knox made a major move over the summer in transferring from Tampa (Florida) Catholic High School to the Overtime Elite league in Atlanta. Knox is teammates at Overtime Elite with Cyril, one of UK’s two class of 2024 commits.

Edgecombe — a five-star shooting guard — visited Kentucky in late October along with Quaintance. Edgecombe didn’t have Kentucky among his finalists when he released a top-10 list this summer, but that was before UK offered him a scholarship in September.

Edgecombe is the latest player to be engaged in a recruiting battle with both Duke and Kentucky taking center stage: Last weekend, class of 2024 center Patrick Ngongba II committed to Duke over both Kansas State and Kentucky.

It should also be noted that Perry — who is the leading scorer in Kentucky boys high school basketball history — will be making his college choice in just a few days.

Perry, who is ranked by the RSCI as the No. 81 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class, will be making his college decision Sunday afternoon.

Perry will be picking from five schools: Alabama, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Western Kentucky.