2024 Roundtable: Interesting Recruitments & Prospects On The Brink

September 11, 2023 by MADE Hoops Staff

In this week's roundtable, MADE Hoops' Max Feldman and Travis Graf discuss a couple of topics surrounding the 2024 class. They go over recruitments that they're interested in seeing shake out and players who could crack the top 150 over time.

1) Which 2024 prospect's recruitment are you most interest in following and why?

Feldman: There’s a ton to choose from at the top of the class. Zoom Diallo and Asa Newell come to mind as two I’m most intrigued by, but I’ll roll with VJ Edgecombe. As with any big risers, there’s been a ton of different schools involved. From Duke, to St. John’s, to Alabama, to UConn and to Ignite, I think there’s a ton of options that make sense for a variety of different reasons. And that’s without mentioning Florida, Miami and Florida State who all have strong cases given their proximity to home, NIL and recent NBA prospect development. Fantastic options across the board and it’s going to be an absolute battle, for due reason. Edgecombe has rocketed into being one of the top prospects in the class in less than a year. 

Graf: The number one player in the class, Cooper Flagg, is the obvious one to monitor here. He’s been seen as a Duke lean on the media side of things, but his circle does a great job of keeping things close to the vest. The Blue Devils are certainly involved, but Dan Hurley is putting his best foot forward, as is Bill Self, and UConn and Kansas are expected to get official visits. 

The other one I’m interested in monitoring is Jalil Bethea, who MADE Hoops has ranked No. 5 in the 2024 class. The talented scoring guard seems to be honed in on a group of three schools — Miami (FL), Kansas, and Syracuse. Syracuse was carrying some public buzz on social media for a couple of weeks but Kansas and Miami have positioned themselves well here. There’s a Team Final connection with Miami, and the Hurricanes have been recruiting Bethea well for a long time, but Bill Self is hard to count out in big time recruitments. 

2) Who is a 2024 prospect that we don't have ranked that could crack the rankings by the end of the season?

Feldman: Braeden Lue, Jase Butler and Steve Solano are the ones that come to mind. Lue burst onto the scene this summer with Team Huncho. 6-8 athletic wing with some budding shot-making ability. Jase Butler has generated buzz over the last few months as a crafty scoring guard with creativity with the ball in his hands. As we’ve seen with some other NorCal natives the last few years, Butler could quickly prove to have been mightily overlooked. Solano is a late blooming seven-foot big now at La Lumiere. Bit of a late bloomer, but has begun to turn a corner of the last few months. That continued progression could take his recruitment and ranking status to another level. More substance with all of these guys would push them into the Top 150 these next few months.

Graf: It’s BB Washington for me. The three-star guard out of Kentucky has grown to about 6’5” and his athleticism has really improved over the past year. He’s always been a knockdown shooter, but his skill set has expanded and so has his impact on games. With a big winter, Washington’s a player who could see his recruitment really surge quickly and add more teams into the mix.