Bucks County Courier Times/The Intell Boys Basketball Player of the Year is a repeat winner
Jalil Bethea had a terrific junior boys basketball season, earning Philadelphia Catholic League MVP honors while leading Archbishop Wood to the PIAA state semifinals.
But he reached another level as a senior, highlighted by becoming the Vikings' first McDonald's All-American selection, being named Pennsylvania's Gatorade Player of the Year, sharing PCL MVP honors with Archbishop Ryan's Thomas Sorber and surpassing 2021 Wood grad Rahsool Diggins to become the school's all-time leading boys' scorer on the way to 1,693 career points.
The slender 6-foot-4 Bethea averaged 22.7 points, 7 rebounds and shot 88.3 percent from the foul line and again propelled Wood to the state semifinals in 2023-24.
For those reasons, Bethea is a repeat pick for Courier Times/Intelligencer Player of the Year.
His terrific 2023 summer of AAU ball with Team Final took him all over the country and resulted in Bethea rising to the No. 6-rated senior in the United States by ESPN, in addition to projected as the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft by ESPN's Jonathan Givony.
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A Miami signee, Bethea regularly signed autographs and posed for photos with young fans after games this season. He was a big reason Wood games drew such big crowds.
They watched performances such a 31-point outing in which he scored 18 in the fourth quarter of the Vikings' 67-61 state quarterfinal victory over Spring-Ford and tallying 40 points in a 63-61 win against Corona Centennial (Calif.) at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass.
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"The whole process, the thing I learned is just to be humble about everything," Bethea said.
When he appeared in just two varsity games as a freshman, Bethea recalled "everybody thought I was going to transfer because there was a bunch of D-1 athletes (on the team), but I knew my time was coming.
"As you all can see, my senior year, it came."
It certainly did.
"(He leaves a) great legacy," said Wood head coach John Mosco. "He did his time and progressed from JV to the best player in the state."
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes.com; @TomMoorePhilly is a sports columnist for PhillyBurbs.com. Support our journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Archbishop Wood's Jalil Bethea wins Player of Year for Bucks County area
