Is 6'9 basketball prodigy joining UP Fighting Maroons?

Will the long wait for UP to finally light up a real bonfire to celebrate the return of the elusive UAAP basketball crown to Diliman be over in the next couple of years?

If a picture posted on Facebook on Saturday night by UP alumnus and former PBA governor JB Baylon is to be taken at face value, the state university will probably be seeing the second coming of a Benjie Paras in the person of Kai Zacharry Sotto, a 13-year-old prodigy who at 6'9 is already being trumpeted as the future of Philippine basketball.

Sotto's picture showing him holding a Maroons jersey was posted on Baylon's Facebook account Saturday night with a caption saying, "DONE DEAL! Kai Sotto, all of 6ft 9 (as of today) poses with legendary Maroons coach Joe Lipa, former Maroons standout Marvin Cruz and myself in Guiuan, Eastern Samar. The future of Maroons basketball is assured."

A second picture posted on Baylon's Facebook page shows Sotto towering over boys his age.

Lipa is better known among local basketball aficionados as the mentor of the last UP team to bring home a UAAP basketball crown.  He also piloted an all-Filipino team that won a bronze in the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, Korea.

The 1986 Fighting Maroons team was bannered by then future PBA legend Ronnie Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano. The core of the Maroons team was composed of former members of the San Beda Red Cubs which won the 1982 NCAA junior division title. 

The arrival of the 6'4 Paras — also a transferee from the Red Cubs — completed Lipa's squad and the team went on to win the coveted basketball title for UP Diliman.

Paras went on to become the PBA's only player to win Rookie of the year and MVP in a single season.

Sotto's joining the Maroons squad -- if true -- would be seen as the second coming of Paras.

Sotto, whose father Ervin was once a first round draft pick in PBA,was earlier reported to be in the cross-hairs of the Ateneo Blue Eaglets, La Salle Zobel and La Salle Greenhills.

An online news site reported that Sotto recently took the Ateneo high school entrance exams.

Sotto, who currently plays for the St. Francis of Asisi College junior team, made waves in the local basketball community after pictures showing him towering over the other participants in a basketball camp held recently.