Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: Emoni Bates
Five-star recruit Emoni Bates announced Wednesday’s he’s committing to the Memphis Tigers
Previous Update
DraftKings has precipitously shortened the University of Memphis’ odds to win next season’s NCAA Tournament amid rumors that five-star recruit Emoni Bates enrolled on Wednesday before his commitment had been officially announced.
Memphis is now 22-1 to win the 2022 NCAA Championship after having been as long as 35-1 to do so earlier on Wednesday.
The university’s public white pages indicates that a person named ‘Emoni Bates’ has registered at the school and been given an official email address.
Bates has not yet made an official commitment and was scheduled to announce the news on Friday. He said earlier this month that he was deciding between Memphis, the University of Oregon, Michigan State University and the G League.
It is unclear if that announcement will happen as scheduled or if it will be moved up amid the rumors.
The 17-year-old had committed to Michigan State before de-committing in April.
The 6-foot-9 small forward from Ypsilanti, Michigan then reclassified from the 2022 class to the 2021 class earlier this month. He had been the No. 1 rated prospect in the 2022 class and is now the No. 3 rated player in the country, according to ESPN’s rankings.
Since Bates is only 17, he will not be eligible to enter the 2022 NBA Draft. That means he will have to play two years of collegiate ball, or spend one year in college then one year in the G League. There is, of course, still the possibility that he could spend two years abroad or in the G League before declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft.
NBA rules state that a player needs to be one year removed from his high school graduating class and turn 19 in that same calendar year in order to be eligible.
