Michigan Basketball: Reacting to the decommitment of Emoni Bates

No. 1 overall recruit in 2022, Emoni Bates decommitted from Michigan State on Friday, and here are some reactions, including from Michigan basketball’s Hunter Dickinson. 

It has long been expected that Emoni Bates, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2022 class wouldn’t play college basketball, despite being committed to Michigan State.

Just about everyone expected him to eventually go pro. He was offered by a bunch of programs, including Michigan basketball, but Tom Izzo won the recruitment, which felt like a big deal, even if Bates never stepped foot on campus,

On Friday, we finally got word that Bates won’t play for Izzo in East Lansing as he officially decommitted from the Spartans and re-opened his recruitment. However, his statement said he is still considering pro and college options, which is a little confusing.

The reaction from Michigan fans was sort of predictable. There was some trolling happening and no one probably did a better job than Hunter Dickinson.

The response by Dickinson is funny. Mostly, it just makes you love the guy even more because you know he shares the same hatred towards the Spartans that we all do.

In a very real sense though, this wasn’t a shock. It was always more of a hope or dream that Bates would actually play college hoops.

Should Michigan basketball make a run at him?

No. It shouldn’t. The Wolverines already offered Bates but I don’t think they should try to recruit him or waste time trying to convince him to play college ball instead of going to the pros.

It would make much more sense to invest time in someone like Jalen Duren, who might come to college and who Michigan basketball seems to lead with, at least among college teams.

Really, outside of that, Jett Howard is the top target in the 2022 class for the Wolverines and there’s starting to be speculation that he could move into five-star territory pretty soon. Here’s what Steve Lorenz wrote on Friday:

"“Upward mobility in Howard’s ranking would up the profile for Michigan’s 2022 class as Jett is currently a heavy favorite to sign with the Wolverines. Michigan is already in on a plethora of elite prospects in 2022 including center Jalen Duren, a player many are believing now is the top overall prospect in the class. With Howard being viewed by both insiders and outsiders as a borderline lock prospect, he goes from being an elite prospect (already ranked Top100) to a cornerstone piece of what should be a second straight big-time class for the Wolverines.”"

The Wolverines are also squarely in the mix for Donovan Clingan, especially after he recently held a virtual meeting with Juwan, which sounds like a gamechanger according to Chris Balas of The Wolverine (subscription required).

Bates you know would be a one-and-done and honestly, he doesn’t feel like a fit for the culture. Bates is all about getting to the NBA and that’s fine. He has every right to try and maximize his draft stock, I just don’t think the Wolverines should go anywhere near his recruitment.