Archbishop Wood’s Jalil Bethea is ‘staying humble’ in McDonald’s All American spotlight

HOUSTON — Throughout his senior year at Archbishop Wood, the accolades kept rolling in for Jalil Bethea.

Vikings all-time leading scorer. A top-10 ranking nationally by ESPN. Catholic League co-MVP. And, after Wood’s run ended in the PIAA Class 6A semifinals, the 6-foot-4 guard was awarded Gatorade Pennsylvania boys’ basketball player of the year and second-team Naismith All-American honors.

Oh, and a McDonald’s All American nod. Bethea, a Miami recruit who’s ranked sixth nationally by ESPN, is the first player in Wood history to receive the honor. It’s something he said he’s dreamed of since childhood, and he’ll suit up for the East team on Tuesday at the Toyota Center (9 p.m., ESPN).

“For me, I put a lot of work in, basically, and also be very humble and thank the man above, God,” he said. “I feel like that’s helped me throughout the past couple years; just staying humble, just being to myself and keeping my circle small.”

Bethea wasn’t always a highly touted recruit. He played sparingly as a freshman before seeing his minutes gradually increase. That took dedication, of course, but what specifically did he focus on as he worked to dispel the notion that he was just a shooter?

“In the offseason … I’ve just been working on my ballhandling and my footwork on defense and all of that,” he said, “and I feel like that has improved over the past couple of years.”

He later added: “Everybody thinks that I can’t really play defense because some people really don’t look at the whole game; they just look at the highlights. And I feel like that’s what people don’t see. They don’t see the little things that we do on and off the court.”

He still scored in bunches this season, though, and was the Catholic League’s second-leading scorer with 22.7 points per game to go along with 7.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

» READ MORE: Archbishop Wood’s Jalil Bethea is a national recruit who’s ‘more than a basketball player’

While Bethea is the only Philly-area representative on the court this year, Westtown head coach Fran Burbidge and Springfield (Delco) coaches Kylynn McNichol and Franny Burbidge are helming the girls’ East team. He also joins a storied list of previous McDonald’s All Americans, most recently current Kentucky players Justin Edwards (Imhotep), Aaron Bradshaw (Camden), and DJ Wagner (Camden) as well as Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo (Paul VI). In all, more than 40 Philly-area players have suited up, including Kobe Bryant (Lower Merion) and current WNBA standout Kahleah Copper (Prep Charter).

“It feels like, basically, a blessing,” Bethea said. “Being in a game like this means a lot because there’s a lot of people from where I’m from that would really do whatever it takes to be in this game. It feels great to be in this game and be the only person in my city to do it this year.”

As for next season, he’s continuing down a well-trodden path from Philadelphia to Miami. The Hurricanes in recent years have been led by the likes of Wooga Poplar (Math, Civics and Sciences) and Isaiah Wong (Bonner-Prendergast) and feature assistant coach DJ Irving, a Chester native who starred at Archbishop Carroll and previously coached at Roman Catholic. And, while the Hurricanes lost 10 straight to close out the season, Bethea is eager to get started. Miami returns its third-leading scorer, Nigel Pack, and Bethea is confident they’ll mesh well.

“I feel like whatever [coach Jim Larrañaga] puts me in a position to do, I feel like I’ll do whatever I can to achieve what we’ve got to do to win,” he said.