UCLA Men's Basketball Offers Class of 2024 East Coast Guard Jalil Bethea
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Looking ahead to next year's cycle, the Bruins have officially targeted another prospect from the Northeast.
UCLA men's basketball sent a scholarship offer to class of 2024 guard Jalil Bethea, the fast-rising East Coast recruit announced Monday on Twitter. Bethea, who is heading into his junior year at Archbishop Wood (PA), now has two high major offers.
Bethea's recruitment started at the tail end of his freshman year with an offer from Robert Morris, but UCLA is his highest-profile offer thus far.
Even once he started earning some more consistent interest in the fall, Bethea's suitors were still on the smaller side. Jacksonville and Albany offered Bethea in September, followed by Temple in October and Radford and Mount St. Mary's in December.
St. Joe's offered Bethea once the evaluation periods began in April, but it took another few months for him to really pick up some steam. Bryant, Fairfield, VCU and Mississippi State all sent Bethea offers in June, a month before UCLA made theirs official.
Bethea does not have a profile on 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN or On3, so he is not ranked and does not have any star ratings. The 6-foot-4 sharpshooter has garnered some attention playing for Team Final on the Nike EYBL circuit, though, and he broke out with a 31-point performance at the Peach Jam earlier in July.
Archbishop Wood has become a consistent program for producing college talent over the past decade. Collin Gillespie graduated from Archbishop Wood in 2017 before going on to star at Villanova, win an NCAA title and sign with the Denver Nuggets.
UCLA is pursuing several other prospects from Bethea's neck of the woods, and he is just the latest to get an offer since the evaluation periods opened up in April. Associate head coach Darren Savino – a New Jersey native who held positions at St. John's and Seton Hall before joining Mick Cronin at Murray State and Cincinnati – has strong ties to the Northeast and mid-Atlantic recruiting circles.
Of the 12 offers the Bruins' staff has sent to class of 2024 prospects, four have gone to recruits from either New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Of the 19 offers they've sent to uncommitted class of 2023 prospects, five have gone to recruits from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts or Connecticut.
UCLA does not have any commits for its 2023 or 2024 recruiting classes.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF JALIL BETHEA/INSTAGRAM
