« I’m committing to Eastern Michigan. I’m going home. »
It is with this concise and precise message that Emoni Bates, the best player still available on the NCAA transfer portal, announced his destination for the 2022/23 season.
Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, a small town of just over 20,000 people that is home to the Eastern Michigan college campus, the winger is (literally) returning home following a disappointing “freshman” season on the individual plan in Memphis, alongside the new player of the Pistons, Jalen Duren, and under the orders of Penny Hardaway.
In 18 games with the Tigers during the 2021/22 fiscal year, Emoni Bates compiled weak averages of 9.7 points (38.6% on shots) and 3.3 rebounds (and 2.3 losses), displaying a level of play unworthy of her status as a true high school superstar.
A painful back injury didn’t help, but it was a tough comeback for the man who was ranked first in the class of 2022 by ESPN, before joining the class of 2021 a year ahead, like Jalen Duren.
To revive himself, he therefore chooses to return to his land, with his family, in a second-class team, which evolves in the “Mid-American Conference”, a “Mid-Major”. A journey that inevitably recalls that of the new Warriors rookie, Patrick Baldwin Jr, who had chosen last year to play his “freshman” season under the orders of his father, within the modest program of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, while Duke , in particular, made eyes at him.
A choice that had not really paid off for the new winger of the reigning champions. So we can only hope that the experience of Emoni Bates is more positive.
« People must think I’m crazy because I consider Eastern [Michigan] among my finalists. said Bates at the beginning of May, during an interview with On3. « But if I enlist there, I’ll be the hero of the city in a way. When I was in high school, we played some of our games at Eastern, and we filled the room. It would be crazy for me to rediscover this link with the city. he added, certainly already with a little idea in the back of his head.