Michigan State Basketball: Expect Emoni Bates to reclassify and enroll?

Although his Ypsi Prep lost to Team Sizzle in a Thursday night showdown on ESPN 2, Michigan State basketball fans got to witness the real Emoni Bates.

The Emoni Bates vs. Chet Holmgren show was all it was cracked up to be on Thursday night. Basketball fans got a sneak peek at the future of the sport as Bates dropped 36 points and 10 rebounds and Holmgren had 31 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks.

It was quite the battle between No. 1 overall recruits.

Bates is the No. 1 prospect in the 2022 class and was matched up quite a bit on Holmgren, the No. 1 recruit in 2021. He held his own, but caught some flak for his defensive intensity and some people forget that he’s still in high school and has plenty of time to develop.

That’s where Tom Izzo comes into play.

Bates shockingly committed to Michigan State over the summer and when it happened, the general consensus was that he did it just to make Izzo happy. There was no way he’d actually make it to college, right?

Well, those opinions on his future are changing, especially since the NBA has yet to get rid of the one-and-done rule and it doesn’t look like that’ll be happening any time soon.

One expert made a bold prediction that will make the rest of the Big Ten unhappy in the years to come as Andrew Slater said to ‘expect Emoni to class up and play at MSU next year.”

https://twitter.com/Andrew__Slater/status/1327086570801946625?s=20

And honestly, he’s right. The consensus went from expecting him to skip college ball for the G-League or some alternative to him reclassifying to 2021 to join guys like Jaden Akins, Pierre Brooks, Max Christie and potentially Enoch Boakye.

If an insider like Slater is predicting a reclassification from Bates, we should, too.

Michigan State fans got a glimpse at the future on Thursday and it’s bright. A combination of Bates and Akins in East Lansing next season will be fun.