Michigan State Basketball: 3 realizations following Emoni Bates’ decision

Alright, folks, the band-aid has been ripped off and Emoni Bates finally made his decision (in the middle of the first week of classes, no less) and he chose Memphis over Oregon and Michigan State basketball. Oh, and the G-League.

Penny Hardaway stole the newly-reclassified five-star from Ypsilanti who was a top target for Tom Izzo for years and even spent nearly a year committed to the Spartans.

With his commitment to Memphis, I came to some realizations — both harsh and not.

Here’s what I realized.

3. Michigan State’s roster is finally set

The roster is set. After months of speculation and debate regarding the recruitment of Emoni Bates, Tom Izzo and Co. finally have the final roster in place.

There are no more additions coming and that’s just OK with Izzo.

Why didn’t the Spartans land Emoni? Who knows. Maybe he didn’t like how Emoni may or may not have fit with the team or maybe Jaden Akins and him didn’t quite mend fences yet. There may have been too much disconnect with Emoni and some of the guys and Izzo is big on OKGs (our kind of guys) and maybe he just didn’t fit that description.

Either way, Izzo moves forward with Akins, Max Christie, Tyson Walker, and Pierre Brooks as his scholarship newcomers and the fact that Emoni didn’t visit Michigan State but took trips to Memphis and Oregon shows just shows how the interest deteriorated on both sides.

Both sides are just fine with this decision.