Emoni Bates Transfers To Eastern Michigan From Memphis

Emoni Bates is transferring from Memphis but his new destination is a bit of a surprise.

The 6-foot-9 native of Ypsilanti, Michigan is headed home to play for Eastern Michigan after considering Louisville and other schools. He averaged 9.7 points and 3.3 rebounds last season at Memphis.

“I’m committing to Eastern Michigan,” Bates told On3.com. “I’m coming home.”

“People probably look at me crazy because I’m considering Eastern,” Bates previously told the site. “But if I went there, I would be like the neighborhood hero. I used to play at Eastern during my high school games when I was at Lincoln, and we used to pack it out every time. That would be crazy for me to be able to bring love to the city.”

Stan Heath, a 57-year-old Michigan native, is the Eastern Michigan coach. He went 10-21 a year ago in the Mid-American Conference.

Once ranked the No. 1 prospect in his class and compared to a young Kevin Durant, Bates is currently projected as the No. 33 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft by ESPN.com.

Many players have leap-frogged over him for next year’s draft, including projected No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, No. 2 pick Scoot Henderson and the Thompson twins, Ausar and Amen of Overtime Elite. Villanova freshman Cam Whitmore is now the projected No. 6 pick.

NBA scouts will now have to scout Eastern Michigan next season to see how Bates is performing.

“Yes, sure, we will go anywhere,” one Director of Scouting said.

At Memphis, Penny Hardaway, one of the greatest point guards of all time, initially tried to shoehorn Bates in as the team’s point guard to start the season. That may well have been part of Hardaway’s recruiting pitch to Bates when he reclassified to the 2021 class from 2022: “Come here, we’re going to put the ball in your hands.”

Well, that experiment failed miserably and Bates ended up missing a large chunk of the season from late January until mid-March with a back issue. The Tigers ended up playing much better without Bates, and, to Hardaway’s credit, he went with a smaller rotation and the team thrived, reaching the American Athletic Conference championship game and the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they lost to Gonzaga.

At his new spot, Bates is best suited to playing on the wing and and as a shooter — not at point guard.

“Potentially, his best position is as a scoring wing when he physically and mentally matures as a young player,” Fraschilla said. “Playing him at point guard right now would be malpractice.”