Michigan Basketball: Emoni Bates to Michigan State is a nightmare
In a nightmare scenario for Michigan basketball, No. 1 overall recruit in 2022, Emoni Bates, committed to Michigan State Monday.
As a Michigan basketball fan, you don’t have to like Tom Izzo. But you damn sure better respect him, especially after the Spartans landed the nation’s top overall recruit in 2022.
Yes, Emoni Bates, the kid from the state of Michigan, who is ranked as the top overall recruit in the 2022 class, said the words every Michigan basketball fan dreaded: That was he was committing to Michigan State. He announced the news suddenly on ESPN Monday.
"As I do know right now, I will be committing to Michigan State University."
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 29, 2020
Emoni Bates, ESPN's No. 1-ranked player in the class of 2022, announced on SportsCenter that he will be heading to East Lansing. pic.twitter.com/WdrG7R5tpc
What makes the whole thing even crazier is that according to Brendan Quinn, a basketball writer for The Athletic, the Spartans didn’t even know about the commitment until this morning.
Am told Michigan State had no idea Emoni Bates’ commitment was coming until rumors started this morning.
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) June 29, 2020
Who knows how much credit Izzo should get for landing Bates, but if this was Michigan, we’d be calling Juwan Howard the greatest recruiter of all time. I mean, as fans, we tend to overreact, but certainly, we’d be giving him much of the praise and Izzo deserves the same.
The next question is whether Bates is actually going to stay in the 2022 class?
There had been talk about him re-classifying, which could still happen and you’d have to think that the G-League or even jumping right to the NBA will be an option in 2022.
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That’s supposed to be when players are allowed to forgo college and go right into the NBA again. That’s why many expect Lebron James’ son, a 2023 recruit, to never play college basketball.
The commitment seems very early for Bates but who’s to say what that actually means. But just because the Spartans landed his commitment, doesn’t mean their recruitment is over. Other teams are going to continue pushing for Bates and the G-League will too.
As far as Michigan basketball is concerned, landing Bates was never a very realistic option. Howard did his best, but the Wolverines class in 2022 should have its own solid piece to build around, which is Howard’s son Jett, a high-ranking four-star prospect.
He’s not Bates, but again, Michigan State has more work to do in order to ever see him suit up in the Breslin Center. Regardless, it’s a big win for MSU and a nightmare scenario for the Wolverines.