Michigan State Basketball: 3 implications of Emoni Bates decommitment

Emoni Bates ended all the speculation on Friday afternoon, decommitting from Michigan State after being committed since last summer. Almost a year-long commitment was ended because Emoni wanted to reopen his recruitment and weigh pro options.

Tom Izzo now has to find answers for the upcoming season. He now knows what the roster will look like and he has to decide if he wants to add another player from the portal or just save the scholarship for future classes — or grant it to a walk-on this year.

What are the top implications from Bates’ decommitment?

3. There’s going to be a bigger 2022 recruiting class

Let’s face it, there was no way Emoni Bates was going to spend another year at the prep ranks. He was going to reclassify regarless and it was just a matter of him either playing for Michigan State or heading to the G-League or even overseas.

So his scholarship would have been used on the 2021 recruiting class and now that he won’t be needing it, Tom Izzo can use it for a bigger 2022 class.

Michigan State could still use a scholarship on 2021 with a transfer but as of right now, there are two open spots that could carry over to 2022. With guys like Tarris Reed, Isaac Traudt, Jalen Washington, Kijani Wright, Ty Rodgers, Jaden Schutt, and Tre Holloman left on the board, the Spartans could make it a larger class with potentially 4-5 spots opening up.

Izzo could make the 2022 class one of his best yet with an extra scholarship opening up from the 2021 cycle.