Archbishop Wood Senior Jalil Bethea Tabbed 2023-24 PA Gatorade Boys' Basketball Player Of The Year
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – Senior guard Jalil Bethea of Archbishop Wood has been tabbed the 2023-24 Gatorade Pennsylvania Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Bethea as Pennsylvania's best high school boys’ basketball player. He is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year award.
Named the PCL Co-MVP and a second-team Naismith All-American, Bethea became Archbishop Wood’s all-time scoring leader on Feb.4 surpassing the previous record (1,513) held by 2021 AW grad and current University of Massachusetts guard Rahsool Diggins. Selected to the 2024 McDonald's All American boys’ game on Apr. 2 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Bethea has signed a National Letter of Intent to continue his academic and athletic pursuits at the University of Miami (FL) next Fall. He averaged 22.4 points and 6.9 rebounds while knocking down 67 field goals from beyond the arc while leading AW to the 2024 PIAA 6A Semifinals. Bethea has volunteered locally on behalf of Athletes Helping Athletes, Inc., a program that connects special needs students with mainstream student-athletes. He has also donated his time as part of multiple fundraisers to benefit the Philadelphia Autism Project.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Since the program's inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
Gatorade Press Release