Emoni Bates says Michigan, other schools have made contact with him

One of the biggest basketball recruits to come out of the state of Michigan in recent memory is Emoni Bates. After just one season at Memphis, the former five-star forward from Ypsilanti entered the transfer portal to find a new home.

Now that he’s in the portal, multiple schools have already reached out to him, and Juwan Howard and the Michigan Wolverines are allegedly one of them.

Bates texted On3’s Joe Tipton the schools that have already reached out to him — Michigan, Arkansas, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Kansas, DePaul, Louisville, Oregon, Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Oklahoma State, Butler and Washington State.

Let me be abundantly clear — schools “reaching out” and “showing interest” are two completely different things. Just because Howard has spoken with Bates and his camp does not mean the Wolverines have any legitimate interest in taking him in. I’d say it’s more likely they have zero interest in him than having any small amount of interest at all.

Bates has all the talent in the world, but he would not be a good fit at Michigan. Since taking over the program, Howard has done a great job bringing in transfer players who fit the culture he has built in Ann Arbor. Mike Smith, Chaundee Brown and DeVante’ Jones have all succeeded at Michigan and were team-first guys.

Here’s to hoping the Wolverines can seal the deal with a guy like Terrence Shannon Jr. from Texas Tech and call it a day in the transfer portal.