Cincinnati Basketball: Top-50 commit Tyler Betsey a massive pickup for program

Cincinnati Basketball gets a key player in the 2024 recruiting class in Tyler Betsey, one of the high-ranked commits out of high school in program history.

Now that they’re in the Big 12, Cincinnati Basketball must improve its overall talent level to regularly compete. That started with the 2023 class, with the team landing two top-100 incoming freshmen in Jizzle James and Rayvon Griffith.

Along with top-100 big man commit Tyler McKinley, the Bearcats have landed three of the 10 best recruits in program history. And now, the team has landed its third-best (according to 247sportsComposite), Tyler Betsey.

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Although he had seven teams originally in contention, Betsey was reportedly down to a key trio of teams. Alabama has become a recruiting juggernaut under coach Nate Oats, while UConn not only recently won a national title but was the local option for the Connecticut, native.

In the end, Coach Wes Miller and Cincinnati was able to find a way to land Betsey. And expect him to be a key contributor a year from now, as a 6’8 combo forward that can shoot the ball at a high-level and is a sound defender. He’s a consensus four-star prospect, ranked in the top-50 and could grow into a five-star player if he has a great senior season.

Pairing Betsey with Griffith is a nice duo for the future in the frontcourt. And with Viktor Lakhin and Ody Oguama being seniors, Cincinnati’s frontcourt could look very different a year from now. He fills a nice need for them at that position.

With both Betsey and McKinley on board, Cincinnati Basketball now has a top-15 class for the 2024 cycle. Look for them to try and add one more guard and maybe a wing in the coming months to round things out in what’s set to be a back-to-back quality recruiting class for the program.