Syracuse Basketball: 4-star priority recruit Jalil Bethea named All-American

Syracuse basketball 2024 four-star priority recruit Jalil Bethea out of the Philadelphia metropolitan region has received inclusion on an All-America team for his excellent junior season.

Jordan Divens, MaxPreps’ national basketball editor, recently disclosed his 2022-23 All-America teams for the junior class. The 6-foot-4 Bethea, a point guard/shooting guard, was named to this past season’s All-America third team within the 2024 recruiting cycle.

Bethea, one of the fastest-rising prospects across the country in his class, was a standout in 2022-23 for Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster, Pa.

This past term, Archbishop Wood went 19-9 overall, according to Divens, and made it to the semifinals of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (“PIAA”) 6A tournament.

Syracuse basketball 2024 four-star target Jalil Bethea is an All-American.

Jalil Bethea and Archbishop Wood compete in the loaded Philadelphia Catholic League. In 2022-23, he was named the MVP of the Philadelphia Catholic League and also placed on that conference’s All-Catholic first squad.

Per Divens, in conference play, Bethea averaged 24.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per contest, while suiting up against some of the top high-school players not only in Pennsylvania, but across the country.

As I noted in another recent column, recruiting service On3 updated its 2024 national rankings not too long ago, and Jalil Bethea made one of the largest leaps nationwide in these refreshed ratings.

According to On3, he jumped from No. 72 to No. 32 overall within the junior cycle. That recruiting service also rates him No. 9 at shooting guard and No. 1 in Pennsylvania within the 2024 class.

Another of the primary recruiting services, Rivals.com, moved Jalil Bethea from No. 80 to No. 39 nationally when it updated its 2024 rankings. When all is said and done, I believe that Bethea will attain five-star status in his cycle.

He holds more than 20 offers from college groups such as Miami, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Temple, UCLA, Villanova, VCU, Mississippi State and West Virginia, among others.

A member of the Philadelphia-based Team Final in Nike’s EYBL league on the AAU circuit, Jalil Bethea has spoken highly of the Syracuse basketball program on numerous occasions, citing his strong relationship with associate head coach Gerry McNamara.

Last month, ‘Cuse coaches watched Bethea in person during two of his PIAA 6A tournament games. He took an official visit to the Hill in October of 2022 after being offered a scholarship by Syracuse basketball in September of last year.

A big congratulations to Jalil Bethea on being named an All-American during his junior season at Archbishop Wood. This honor is well-deserved.