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If Emoni Bates plays college basketball, it’ll likely be at Michigan State

By Mike Phillips

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - MARCH 08: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans while playing the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Breslin Center on March 08, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - MARCH 08: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans while playing the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Breslin Center on March 08, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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If Emoni Bates opts to play in college it could be huge for Michigan State.

The recruiting cycle never ends in college basketball. While some schools are finalizing their 2020 recruiting classes, the race to get ahead on the next big thing a few years down the line is always intense.

That hasn’t been the case for Emoni Bates, the top player in 2022 who has been favorably compared to Kevin Durant. In fact, the only college coach to speak to Bates at midnight when the recruiting window opened was Michigan State’s Tom Izzo.

While there is no doubt that Izzo, one of the sport’s good guys, has nothing to lose with an offer there is a chance that Bates never steps foot in a college gym. Bates would be a classic one-and-done player, a concept that could go away before he is eligible to start playing college basketball.

The NBA may consider ending the one-and-done rule as part of a new collective bargaining agreement, clearing the way for top high school players to jump to the NBA once again. The rule was established in 2005, requiring players to be at least 19 years old or one year removed from high school before they could be drafted in the NBA.

At the time the rule was designed to protect teams from getting stuck with players who weren’t ready to contribute in the NBA, which led to numerous busts like Kwame Brown and Sebastian Telfair. The move also appeared to be a win for college basketball as it led players like Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson to campus for a year.

The idea of the one-and-done has been challenged of late, especially with the G-League now offering highly touted prospects contracts to spend a year there before getting drafted. 2020’s top recruit, Jalen Green, opted to sign the G-League instead of going to college.

It seems obvious that Bates will go pro if he is allowed to, but there is no guarantee the rule will be changed in time for that season. There is nothing to lose for Izzo to make a scholarship offer and it is actually pretty savvy on his part since bigger schools like Duke and Kentucky haven’t bothered, feeling it’s a waste of time.

There’s still a chance Bates could end up in college and the fact that Izzo was the only one who cared to make contact with him right away could pay huge dividends for Michigan State. There is a human aspect to recruiting that often gets ignored and the fact that Izzo made the time for a player who could potentially never end up in college demonstrates why he is one of the savviest coaches in college basketball.

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