Obviously a big get for EMU and the MAC. I watched a couple of Memphis games last season when Bates played. He looked really long and athletic, but I felt like the hype wasn't justified when I watched them. Small sample size, though, and he very well might shred the MAC. He forced a lot of bad shots in the couple of games I watched.
He also missed a lot of time. Was it a back injury?
It was a "Penny sucks as a coach and is overrated" problem.
It's no secret his dad caused a lot of trouble at Memphis.
A lot of news outlets have been reporting Penny told Bates he wouldn't have a second year in Memphis. The headache was just too large.
Big programs stayed away entirely, not because "Penny sucks as a coach and is overrated" but because not only does Bates not take to coaching, he doesn't want to be coached. His dad also does not want him to be coached.
These series of bad decisions made by his dad go way back. His dad pulled him out of high school - from a team coached by a family friend - to create his own academy staring his son.
When he started being viewed as no longer the #1 prospect in 2022, his dad forced him to reclassify from 2022 and go to Memphis - where it all came unglued when he didn't have the immediate success he's used to playing vs inferior competition.
From CBS:
"It was clear almost immediately that Emoni Bates was not ready for college basketball. He began the season as a starter, but saw his minutes get slashed after he combined to go 5 of 23 from the field in consecutive games. He only played 15 minutes against the Crimson Tide and was benched for nearly the entire second half. In a related note, Memphis won that game to snap a four-game losing streak, at which point it became clear the Tigers were better without him.
A little more than a month later, Bates left the team and returned home to Michigan."
Now EB is on his way back to EMU, not because he wants to come home, but because there was nowhere else to go.
A one man show, that is on its way to his fourth team in four years.
Last Edited: 6/30/2022 11:07:49 AM by M.D.W.S.T