Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from a contested win over EMU
By Nick Popio
The Washtenaw neighborly affair was more like two junkyard dogs that wouldn’t give an inch in a tightly wound contest in the confines of Detroit’s Little Caesar’s arena.
The Wolverines pulled away with about four minutes to spare in what felt like a tournament-type of atmosphere. Eastern Michigan gave Michigan basketball everything that they could handle and then some while taking them to the full 40-minute limit. Somehow the maize and blue survived though, despite all of its noticeable shortcomings on display.
Here are the three takeaways.
1. Imagine if Emoni Bates was a Wolverine
It almost came to fruition, but Emoni Bates showcased his overwhelming wealth of talents to re-introduce himself as an Eastern Michigan Eagle. Bates was rumored to land in Ann Arbor, but due to some certain circumstances, he announced that he would have to settle for Eastern Michigan instead of Michigan basketball.
There’s no doubt that his skills are undeniable. He went off for a career-high 30 that will probably be broken sooner rather than later. With him in Ypsilanti, the Eagles have a real chance to win a lot of matchups this year. His next big test doesn’t come until December 30th when they travel to South Carolina though.
Emoni Bates is like when you created a 99 overall and put them on a small school in NCAA March Madness and tried to take them to a National Championship.
— coop (@LocalLegendCoop) November 12, 2022
If Bates were to choose Michigan however, then Juwan Howard’s group would be considered a national title contender. Bates would have arguably started instead of Terrance Williams or Jett Howard and would have been a mismatch nightmare for opponents. He and Dickinson would have been a force that would have been difficult to stop as a 1-2 punch.