Syracuse Basketball: Jalil Bethea up to 5 stars, could push top 5 nationally

Recruiting service On3 updated its top 150 for the 2024 class on Monday, and Syracuse basketball priority recruit Jalil Bethea got bumped up to five stars and to No. 10 across the country.

The 6-foot-4 Bethea, a versatile point guard/shooting guard, is one of the fastest-rising prospects nationwide in the rising-senior class.

In its refreshed 2024 national ratings, On3 has placed Jalil Bethea at No. 10 overall, No. 5 at shooting guard and No. 1 in Pennsylvania.

Not too long ago, Bethea, who has received more than 20 scholarship offers throughout his recruitment, released a top five of the Orange, Alabama, Kansas, Miami and Villanova.

The ‘Cuse coaching staff offered him a scholarship in September of 2022. Bethea took an official visit to the Hill the following month.

He will reportedly take another official visit to Syracuse basketball this coming September, giving Jalil Bethea the opportunity to watch practices led by first-year head coach Adrian Autry.

Syracuse basketball target Jalil Bethea continues to climb the national charts.

After On3 published its new 2024 ratings, I checked in with On3 national analyst Jamie Shaw. Shaw, one of the best recruiting analysts out there, told me that he thinks it’s feasible for Bethea to make a run at the top five overall in his class.

Recently, MADE Hoops placed Bethea at No. 4 nationwide. Among the main recruiting services, he is No. 9 from ESPN, No. 10 from On3, No. 15 from Rivals.com and No. 19 from 247Sports.

Both of the industry-generated rating systems, the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Industry Ranking, had Jalil Bethea as five stars and inside the top 12 overall when I penned this column.

Last fall, when the Orange offered him, Bethea was in the top 100, according to a couple of recruiting services. However, he wasn’t rated anywhere close to where he is now, that is, a consensus top-20 national prospect in the 2024 cycle.

As a junior in the 2022-23 season for Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster, Pa., Bethea earned All-America honors. He will contend for such accolades again as a senior for Archbishop Wood in 2023-24.

This spring and summer, Bethea was a standout for the 17U squad of the Philadelphia-based Team Final in Nike’s EYBL league. He helped lead Team Final to the EYBL regular-season title. Last month, Team Final reached the quarterfinals of the prestigious Peach Jam tournament.

"In late July, I asked Rivals.com national analyst Rob Cassidy about the latest in Bethea’s recruiting process. Cassidy said in part, “I’m not sure who the singular front-runner is, but I think I can handicap the field some. The programs I see as actually having a chance to land Jalil Bethea are Miami, Syracuse and Villanova. Alabama is technically in the talented guard’s final five but I don’t see it as a real player. Then, there’s Kansas. I wouldn’t classify the Jayhawks as one of the leaders as things stand but I had somebody in the know tell me that the Jayhawks should be treated as a ‘dark horse.'”"