Syracuse Basketball: Orange out of lead for 4-star Philly guard, per On3

Syracuse basketball coaches are recruiting 2024 four-star guard Jalil Bethea extremely hard, and I believe that the Orange is in solid shape for the fast-rising prospect out of the Philadelphia area.

That being said, recently, the On3 recruiting prediction machine for a sizable period of time had the ‘Cuse out in front in the recruitment of the 6-foot-4 point guard/shooting guard, with around a 50 percent position.

When I checked Bethea’s profile via the On3 Web site on Monday, I noticed that Temple had moved out in front according to the recruiting prediction machine, with Syracuse basketball at No. 2, at around 32 percent.

Now, this doesn’t mean the Orange is in any way out of the running for Jalil Bethea, but I did want to pass along this information. Take it for what it’s worth.

As of Monday, I had not seen any official analyst predictions in Bethea’s recruiting process between the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

Syracuse basketball is prioritizing 2024 four-star guard Jalil Bethea in the junior cycle.

In March, ‘Cuse head coach Adrian Autry and his assistants watched Bethea twice in person as he suited up in post-season play for his high-school team.

During the 2022-23 season, Bethea was a standout junior for Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster, Pa., which reached the semifinals of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (“PIAA”) 6A tournament.

Bethea, in 2022-23, won all kinds of awards and honors. He was named an All-American by MaxPreps and captured MVP honors in the absolutely loaded Philadelphia Catholic League.

The Syracuse basketball coaching staff offered a scholarship to Jalil Bethea last September. The following month, he took an official visit to the Hill. Per media reports and recruiting services, he has also taken an official visit to Temple.

Additionally, per college basketball insider Adam Zagoria, Bethea was planning to take an unofficial visit to Villanova on Monday, and he previously made unofficial visits to Penn State and Rutgers, per On3.

This past weekend, amid an NCAA live period on the AAU circuit, Autry watched Bethea, according to numerous reports. Bethea is part of a talented roster with the Philadelphia-based Team Final in Nike’s EYBL league.

Last weekend, the EYBL held games at the LakePoint Champions Center in Emerson, Ga., during the live period.

In his four contests for Team Final, Bethea tallied 15 points twice, along with 20 points and 21 points, according to information provided on theseasonticket.com.

His offer sheet, besides Syracuse basketball, includes Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Miami, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Temple, UCLA, Villanova, VCU, Mississippi State and West Virginia, among others.

I have seen several reports as well as comments from recruiting experts that suggest Bethea may be eyeing a possible official visit to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Miami, which made the Final Four during this spring’s NCAA Tournament.

As some recruiting services have refreshed their 2024 national rankings, Jalil Bethea has vaulted into the top 40 around the country in his class. MADE Hoops recently placed him at No. 18 nationwide in the junior cycle.