Monday Musings: What is Going on With Jalil Bethea?
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Syracuse basketball priority target Jalil Bethea was supposed to take an official visit this coming weekend. This following officials to Villanova, Kansas and Miami. However, rumors started swirling Sunday afternoon that Bethea cancelled his official to SU and that this was a Kansas versus Miami race.
So what is the situation? Here is what we know.
Bethea rescheduled his official visit to Syracuse for the weekend of the 29th due to a conflict with a Nike event happening this weekend. That was not public knowledge but apparently had already been worked out between the two sides behind the scenes.
However, the rumors that the official to SU was cancelled along with buzz that Miami put itself in the driver's seat during its visit put the Orange's position in a precarious spot. Bethea later told me that the rumors were false information and he is coming to Syracuse on the 29th.
"I'll be there," Bethea said.
So what does this all mean? Syracuse was obviously one of the frontrunners for quite a while throughout the recruitment. The Kansas visit, however, made the Jayhawks a significant threat. Miami has always been a big threat and they seemed to have showcased themselves well during this past weekend's visit. So Syracuse certainly has its work cut out for it at a minimum.
The key will be what happens over the next week or so. Do the rumors of no Syracuse visit get stronger? Does Bethea set a surprise commitment date indicating he is deciding between Kansas and Miami? Or is there silence from his end and he really does end up taking the Syracuse visit?
Syracuse has no chance without this visit even though he visited last October. A visit would indicate he still is interested. Not taking it means he has moved on to other options.
The drama in recruiting never fails.