Emoni Bates has been everywhere over the last year. The top-rated basketball prospect in the country. Deep-dive profiles by Sports Illustrated. Comparisons to Lebron James and Kobe Bryant in high school. His commitment to Michigan State was big news even if his odds of playing in college were slim.
With an increasing number of paid options for young basketball stars (G League, overseas, Overtime), Bates’ decision to play college ball was met with plenty of skepticism. On Friday at 5p, he decided to announce his de-commitment from MSU. It was met with a “see, told ya so” from many circles, but also some confusion. It amounted to a news dump heading into the weekend, and “de-commit” would suggest he’s still open to playing college ball somewhere else.
Ty Rodgers is a 6’6″ 4-star wing from Grand Blanc, Michigan. He’s been a Syracuse target for awhile. He’s ESPN’s #35 recruit in the Class of ’22. He recently announced an offer from Minnesota, and in classic Eric Devendorf fashion, Devo pushed the Orange on him.
Five months ago, Rodgers said Jim Boeheim was the coach he spoke to most, but the challenge will come from the Big Ten. Rodgers has offers from all the power programs there (Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue). Which brings us back to Bates.
Pierre Brooks is a 4-star guard from Detroit (’21) and was asked which pal he’d be recruiting to join him a few weeks ago.
“I need to get my boy Ty Rodgers man. Ty needs to come to MSU, I don’t know what he’s waiting on! Emoni (Bates) will probably re-class up, and then I don’t really know any other big men we’re recruiting. But yeah, I’ll say Ty.” – Pierre Brooks, Michigan State commit
While SU already has wing Kamari Lands coming in the Class of ’22, there’s other big fish the Orange want to reel in. Rodgers may be one of them. If Brooks was trying to rally Rodgers to East Lansing, he just lost a big magnet in Bates. The Spartans though, are still set with a highly-rated class for next year with Brooks, five-star Max Christie and four-star Jaden Akins. Rodgers could still join big time classes at MSU or even nearby Michigan, who is killing it under Juwan Howard. Even though the Bates de-commitment may slightly hurt the hook of Rodgers’ being part of a Spartans Super Class, Syracuse may not be the beneficiary unfortunately.
