Miami Basketball: 5-star Jalil Bethea continues Hurricanes hot recruiting run

No team is hotter on the recruiting trail for the 2024 class than Miami Basketball, who after landing Jalil Bethea, now has a top-5 overall group.

Miami Basketball didn’t focus too much on building up the 2023 class, with two of the three incoming freshmen (Kyshawn George and Paul Djobet) being late pickups from this offseason. But with just a couple of departures, the program didn’t need too big of a class.

However, depending on what a few 4th-year seniors do after this upcoming season, the Hurricanes may be in need of a lot of roster additions. And the team has not only been prepared but they’ve done an outstanding job at landing key pieces. It’s all happened in just a few weeks this offseason, with a trio of pickups.

It started out with Austin Swartz, a 6’6 shooting guard and four-star prospect. He’s the potential replacement for starter Wooga Poplar on the perimeter if he goes. Next was Isaiah Johnson-Arigu, a four-star and top-100 small that gives them needed depth at the small forward position. And this week, the Hurricanes landed their highest-ever commit out of high school in Jalil Bethea.

https://x.com/TiptonEdits/status/1704573384602828954?s=20

The 6’4 shooting guard prospect has been a fast-riser in the 2024 class, now ranked in the top-10 overall. He’s an excellent scorer and overall playmaker and can shoot anywhere from the court. Bethea is the ideal eventually replacement for Isaiah Wong, one of the best shot-makers in the country last two years and is coming off winning ACC Player of the Year.

With Poplar and Nijel Pack entering their 4th years of college basketball, there’s a real chance that we’ll see complete turnover in the backcourt for Miami Basketball a year from now.

But with Bethea and the other commits in the 2024 class, don’t expect much, if any, of a dropoff in talent for the program.