Syracuse Basketball: 5-star Jalil Bethea moves closer to top 5 nationwide

Lately, multiple national recruiting analysts and scouts have told me that Syracuse basketball 2024 priority recruit Jalil Bethea from the Philadelphia area could push the top five across the country in the senior class.

The 6-foot-4 Bethea, a five-star guard and one of the fastest-rising prospects in the 2024 cycle, is trending in that direction.

Recruiting service ESPN recently updated its top-100 national rankings for this class, and Jalil Bethea moved up to No. 7 nationwide, as well as the No. 2 shooting guard and the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania.

Bethea is an All-American at Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster, Pa., and in the latest AAU season, he was a top performer in Nike’s EYBL league while starring for the Philadelphia-based Team Final.

Syracuse basketball 2024 five-star target Jalil Bethea continues to jump in national ratings.

Bethea, a consensus top-20 national prospect and one of the top long-range shooters in his class, received a scholarship offer from the ‘Cuse coaching staff in September of 2022. He took an official visit to the Hill the following month.

At present, he has a top five of Syracuse basketball, Alabama, Kansas, Miami and Villanova, although some reports have noted that several other blue-blood programs have been showing interest in Jalil Bethea.

He recently took official visits to both Villanova and Kansas. This coming weekend, he is expected to officially visit Miami, followed by a second official visit to the Orange in mid-September and an official visit to Alabama after that.

By the way, on Tuesday, the Hurricanes landed a verbal commitment from 2024 four-star shooting guard Austin Swartz, according to media reports. It remains to be seen how Swartz’s pledge might affect Miami’s ability to pick up Jalil Bethea, although one top national analyst told me that the Hurricanes continue to push for Bethea.

Not too long ago, MADE Hoops refreshed its top 150 in the 2024 cycle, and that recruiting Web site placed Bethea at No. 5 overall in this class.

At this juncture, I haven’t come across any analyst predictions for Bethea on the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com or the On3 Web site, which isn’t a surprise. Bethea has said several times of late that he’s in no rush to make a college decision, and experts have noted that his recruiting process will likely become more clear after all of his official visits are wrapped up.

Needless to say, his upcoming official visit to Central New York is critically important for the Orange. This trip will allow Jalil Bethea to bond with Syracuse basketball players and coaches, while also enabling him to check out practices conducted by first-year head coach Adrian Autry.

Naturally, ‘Cuse fans are anxious (that includes me). The Orange has two four-star verbal commitments in 2024, and a pledge from Bethea would prove massive for the team’s senior recruiting cycle.

There is a lot of speculation out there, so it’s difficult to really gauge where things stand. If I had to take my best guess, I’d say the three biggest contenders at this stage are Syracuse basketball, Kansas and Miami – but things can change rather rapidly. Stay tuned.