Louisville trending for Memphis transfer Emoni Bates

MrsTylerKSR

A familiar name may soon play for the Cats’ biggest rival. Louisville is trending for Memphis transfer Emoni Bates, formerly a top-five recruit in the 2021 class.

Bates entered the transfer portal last month and on Monday, announced his top six: Louisville, Seton Hall, Michigan, DePaul, Arkansas, and Eastern Michigan. Since then, the Cards have picked up five predictions in Bates’ 247 Sports Crystal Ball, including one from the outlet’s main basketball analyst Travis Branham. On3’s Jamie Shaw also logged a pick for Louisville in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM), which pushed the Cards’ chances of landing Bates to 99.8%.

“I talked to coach KP (Kenny Payne) yesterday, actually,” Bates told Tipton on Monday. “I’ve known him since I was in seventh grade. I took a visit to Kentucky when I was a kid, and me and him had a bond, and we were always really close. He would always talk to my dad as well. KP is someone I would really love to learn from. He’s got a lot of experience with the game, and he would make sure that I would get to where I want to go. He would invest in me and make sure I’m getting better every day on and off the court.”

Since taking over at Louisville, Payne has added two four-star 2022 recruits in Devin Ree and Kamari Lands and Tennessee transfer Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. The Cards return JJ Traynor, Roosevelt Wheeler, El Ellis, Mike James, Sydney Curry, and Jae’Lyn Withers.

Emoni Bates’ rocky year at Memphis

At one point, Bates was considered the No. 1 player in the 2022 class. Kentucky offered him but since the Ypsilanti, Michigan native was long considered a Michigan State lock, never really got involved. As expected, Bates committed to the Spartans in June 2020 but reopened his recruitment in April 2021. Memphis emerged as the favorite, and Bates and Jalen Duren reclassified to 2021 and committed to play for Penny Hardaway.

As you know, their freshman year didn’t go exactly as planned. Bates missed 15 games due to injuries and averaged 9.7 points on 38.6% shooting along with 3.3 rebounds. In February, there were reports he was leaving the program but he stuck around and played limited minutes in the NCAA Tournament. A few weeks later, he entered the transfer portal. According to this report from Michigan reporter Kory Woods, this week Bates was told to pack his bags and get out of town.

Spoke to a source this morning with close knowledge of Emoni Bates’ exit from Memphis.

Bates’ behavior along conversations he had with Memphis recruits about head coach Penny Hardaway, are some factors that led to him being told he can “pack his stuff and go.” pic.twitter.com/K00RlKGOVa
— Kory Woods (@KoryEWoods) May 3, 2022