Just A Minute: Will Miami's Jalil Bethea Return For A Sophomore Season?
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By the looks of things, the Miami Hurricanes will a an entire new roster once again following this season. Reports say Duke associate head coach Jai Lucas is preparing to take the head coaching job at the Miami Hurricanes.
Where does that leave the talent of the possible Hurricanes that still have eligibility — specifically Jalil Beatha?
This season was a letdown for the five-star freshman but the talented guard showed a lot of upside. His growth in defense and shot-making ability has progressed and another year would do wonders for the budding star guard.
His stats won't show for it (only averaging seven points on 38 percent shooting) but he could be a fun project for Jai Lucas if he decided to keep him, or if Bethea would want to stay in Coral Gables.
By the looks of things, Bethea, might want to stay and prove a point.
Looking straight at Coach Jai Lucas 👀 pic.twitter.com/J2zNyoY6es
— TrintonBreeze (@TrintonBreeze) February 26, 2025
Dealing with a steep learning curve, highlighted defensively early in the season, Bethea also had to deal with the retirement of coach Jim Larranaga. With that much on the young man's early development, he still found a way to stay positive.
He had his moments of immaturity as well. Some would say that was one of the weakest parts of his game. Luckily, learning is one of the quickest things Bethea does. It is a lot of pressure on a player fresh out of high school to deal with this much instability. He will grow from it and if he returns to Miami, he could put himself back in position to be a first-round lottery pick.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at justice.sandle111@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@Justice_News5.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.