Emoni Bates reclassifies into 2021; Memphis gets a prediction

Emoni Bates is on his way to the class of 2021.

According to Joe Tipton of On3, the 5-star forward, who was the No. 2 player in the Class of 2022, has decided he would like to play collegiate or professional basketball this coming season.

On top of the reclassification news, Tipton also reports that Bates is down to four options that include Memphis, Michigan State, Oregon, and the NBA G-League.

There have been rumblings around this move for the last several weeks, and comes at a unique time as the No. 1 player in the class of 2022, Jalen Duren, is also expected to reclassify on Friday at his commitment announcement.

Bates was once committed to Michigan State, but ended up reopening his recruitment in April. Ever since then, it has been widely expected that he would make the jump to one of his professional options, and it seems like the G-League won out as the best professional option.

To spice things up even more, there have been some recent rumblings of a potential pairing of Bates and Duren at Memphis this coming season. Tipton spoke with Duren earlier this week, and when he asked him about the two talking about playing together Duren had this to say:

There isn't much to read into from these comments, as plenty of players talk about them pairing up in college, but since Duren has been trending towards Memphis for the last few weeks it is worth noting for sure. There is no current timetable for a decision for Bates.

For what it’s worth, recruiting analyst Travis Graf just logged a prediction for Memphis to land Bates.

Kentucky was never really involved with Bates. It also appears that Kentucky recruits Dereck Lively Jr. and Shaedon Sharpe have a chance at being the No. 1 player in the Class of 2022 after these moves.

A Sea of Blue comes loaded with Kentucky Wildcats links, news, analysis, and some other fun stuff, so ‘like’ our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.