Just more than five weeks after losing an overtime game to UCLA, 86-80, in their NCAA Tournament East Region First Four matchup, the Michigan State Spartans took another tough loss.
Top-ranked junior (via ESPN) Emoni Bates, among the elite high school prospects of the past several years, said via Instagram he has decommitted from coach Tom Izzo’s Spartans.
“I would like to thank Tom Izzo and the coaching staff at Michigan State but I have decided to reopen my recruitment,” Bates wrote. “I’m not sure what my future holds but I am keeping all of my options open, both college and pro.”
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The Spartans were 15-13 this past season, with an eighth-place finish (9-11) in the Big Ten.
ESPN reported Bates was the first five-star player to pick Michigan State since Jaren Jackson Jr. in 2017, and the first of ESPN’s No. 1 prospects to commit to the Spartans since the network’s database began in 2007.
Though Bates, who committed to the Spartans last June, had indicated he would not go the G League route, his next step is unclear and he has reopened his recruitment.
–Field Level Media