Emoni is the same age as many high school juniors. He’ll be fine.

His struggles makes sense, he’s never played an entire season before with this much talent. He’s also never been in a situation where he’s had to play a ROLE and do things outside of shooting, that’s why his decision making has been off. Guys are more athletic & bigger in College, so he doesn’t have the same physical advantage as he did in HS. He’ll need to learn to think the game more and to score in the flow of the offense.

Emoni Bates has always been the best athlete on the floor. He has never had to struggle or adjust his game. He just did what he wanted and kids just moved out of the way. He has time to grow, mature and work on his game. Another season of CBB will only make him better.

I think this was the point tho. Him going to college was to try to understand what that next level is like. I think when he returns next year he’ll show his improvement drastically

I know this is gonna sound crazy but I hope Emoni plays 2 more years after this one instead of just 1. I think it would really help him develop as a pure scorer and improve his abilities as a playmaker!

He just turned 18… he should be in high school still… he isn’t eligible for the NBA draft until next year… he definitely was going to have a humbling year after skipping his senior year in HS. I think the kid will have a good year next year

Every level of basketball requires more and more work, most of it mental. It's wild watching guys who were studs in college struggle in G-League.

I agree with most of your points, except when you said around 9:25. The dude should not have even been compared to those guys you named. Nobody should. Shit like that puts unreal expectations on these young guys. Same shit with Andrew Wiggins, Wiggins was never a bad player but people labeled him as a bust because bro was compared to Kobe and he’s crazy far from it. Comparisons are usually too high for these people.

Love the Basketball vids Matt 💪🏾💯🔥

Now here comes his BIGGEST test....dealing with failure,& adversity.

Yooo Mattbegreat with basketball

Watching while Super Bowl is on the tv

Give the young man time to grow and develop into his body he is still growing

The young man will be just fine! His nuts hadn't even dropped yet. His confidence will catch up with him and go ahead and settle down.

He'll be aight when he adds muscle this off-season and he plays on the wing next year he'll be lottery again

Emoni should have stayed with his commitment to MSU Spartans. Great talent who want to become great players NEED GREAT COACHING. Coach Izzo and MSU staff would have far more likely developed Emoni. He isn’t going away.

Could you do what happened to every number one basketball recruit since 2011? Or something like that? If you haven’t already I love your content you keep everything interesting

We will see what he is made of. I think he can look totally different next year. Biggest improvement always from freshman to sophomore year. If you work and learn

Wow very informational , was wondering why I don’t hear no emoni Bates talk like that . But he still young

😂😂😂 he's a kid I don't think most of yall realize he is still the age of a high school junior he literally just turned 18 infact Chet & Paolo both are almost 2yrs older than him

I wonder if Emoni would have been better off with an experienced coach like Izzo. Maybe Penny is more of a "player's coach" who doesn't yet know how to develop talent.

I watched him play AAU in Vegas he dropped like 32 the first half and sat the second half cus his team was up by a lot he was 14/15 with pro moves already polished not to mention he reclassified and went to college early let him figure him self out and he’ll be just fine trust the process he’s still suppose to be in high school

Takes time to adjust from being the star player #1 option to a player who has to play a role

Emoni needs to pack on muscles at the NCAA Level, that's one of the solutions & he has to learn that the college game isn't the same as high school

I saw the Alabama an old mis game cause they where on cbs& ESPN, an in both games he was totally unprepared for the type of defense that they where playing him in both game especially in the Alabama game #14 and #32 were playing in that ass defense, an he did not like that style and he was able to do anything to help the team or himself...he was bullied out of position an was boxed out of the offense cause he was not able to do anything an what maid it worst was the fact that he started to chuck the ball up an was not playing any defense an was consistently looking lost, that's showing that in practice he is not paying attention, he was late on switches an did not rotate on defense that's why penny had to pull him an the worst part was when he was on the bench he had an attitude....he is used to getting his way an that not how it goes .....I hope he can regain his confidence cause if not the NBA ain't in his future.

Matt just rambling for that video length i swear🤣🤣

He definitely has to get stronger 💪

Media overhyped him and he couldn’t keep up with the hype.Regardless he’s still going to make the NBA

I saw this coming last year. He was just playing AAU and too much bad basketball . Think it built bad habits for him. Get him some more time to develop , too much hype for years. He will get it together but needs regroup

College is still new to him, he’ll be straight, hopefully

Subbed. nice video

It’s called life and being a human in his career there are going to be ups and downs

I’ll give him a pass due to his youth because he’s not LeBron or KD. Analysts love drawing those comparisons but we’ll never see anything like LeBron coming out of high school again in our lifetimes. He literally LOOKED like an NBA player on a high school floor. Emani just looked like an amazing high school player. There are levels to this. That being said, I still have faith in him. Even at the next level

This kid is young and his talent is off the charts but his basketball IQ needs to improve. He is a victim of the AAU mentality and he has to adjust to playing against college Juniors and Seniors. I am sure he will leave Memphis after the season and play somewhere his flaws wouldn't be exposed as much.

Hey Matt, where did yesterdays upload go? I went to watch it and I saw that it was gone

Damn! I really hope Brodie bounce back 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

I've watched 5 of his games. If you didn't know his hype coming out of High school, you wouldn't know who he was. I understand that he is young, but I just believe he should have went to a better school. Say a Kansas, Kentucky or somewhere along those lines. There he could compete daily against the best players and in return develope.

Give my boy another year he will be a lottery pick/1st rounder for sure

I like a couple basketball vids every week mixed with the football content

His game isn't catered to be versatile within an offense. He isn't a very versatile player. He's a good iso player! These high school players need to learn how to play better team ball. It's a skill being versatile within an offense and defense. What makes Draymond so great on defense is his versatility but not only that...he's skillful in how he plays it. It takes patient, eye for detail, timing, positioning, etc. It's levels to this shit!

They did not develop him physically and mentally. You can tell they let him do whatever he wanted in high school. He needs to improve his knowledge of the game.

He great considering his age the struggle will only make him better

Sounds like he has an IQ issue and not willing or able to adjust just yet. I hope he has a growth mindset! I’d say give him time and in a couple years if he settles in, he’ll be back valuable .. interesting to see how this one plays out.. (Wonder whats the deal with his high school /AAU coaches & their ability to teach) 😳

i wish i wasnt seein jackson high jus gettin buckets put on nem like this 😭 my boys was excited for tht game 😭

He will be fine this kid is a future all star no doubt.

Best fresh, sophomore I’ve ever seen since Lebron and then after that his game took a huge halt and people caught up something went wrong.

He skipped HS to play high level D-1. Serious learning curve l!!!

To be insta-GOAT at a young age is a problem facing many up and coming bball prosects. They are great in social media but on the actual hardwood no amount of clout will save you from being exposed if the greatness is not really there.

the real problem is people hyping up young players and putting unreasonable exceptions on them.

#1) Learn and adjust your game to the system you are in. So far, he has been completely disjointed from the rest of the team, which obviously killed the chemistry with the rest of the team, no matter who else was on the floor with Emoni. #2) Continue to work on his mid-range jumper. No need to 'force' a drive to the basket each time you touch the ball. Take what the defense gives you, and adjust to it. #3) Emoni has to get stronger. In Highschool he was able to play through most of the physical contact, but that certainly has not been the case playing for Memphis.So many times, he has been physically forced off his dribble that he ends up on the floor everytime he goes to the rack. In time, he will get stronger, but he desperately needs to hit the weight room.

He'll be fine its a whole different level

This why he joined college a year early to get extra expertise he be just fine

He's a confidence based player, and he lost that at Memphis. I think all the posturing and bravado puts a target on his back. When everyone around you tells u that you made it without actually making it yet. Plus you gotta be able to guard somebody and I saw him vs Holmgren and I knew he was not heading towards greatness ...goodness... not greatness. But I wish him good fortune. At least he gets to uplift himself and his family.

Next year GLeague (which is not designed to win conference titles but) to show off skills. Then a top 5 pick in the 2023 draft.

I never thought his game would translate at the next level

damn, his last 3 games stats look like my rec stats on 2k

This is shocking

Emoni is a 17 year old kid in college before he is supposed to be. Now he has scored double figures each game in college against guys 3 years older then himself. He is holding his own if you ask me since there's guys in college at the correct ages and they are not putting up double figures each game. Next year I think he will do much better after learning the college game

He is not a bench player penny Hardaway has the most starting lineup changes in college basketball and he has been sitting out with an ankle injury

Im a memphis fan and yea he’s been bad but he’s also barley 18 in most the games he played he was 17 years old 😭. I was looking at emoni closely his junior yr and i just knew he wasn’t that next lebron type guy. He shot 38 fg% 26 3p% and his ft% dropped. In eybl he shot 37 fg% 30 3p% 2.8 to’s to 2.8 apg. As the comp got better he didn’t i knew he was overrated. But this how i know his confidence is shot in the summer for eybl he shot basically 90 ft%, at memphis he’s 65%. He’ll get better he’s had moments when the game is slow for him overall has been average.

Truth is he will be a better pro then a college player

He's technically a senior in high school. He's still the best prospect for his draft.

Big fish small pond increase the size of the pond and the fish doesn't get bigger its easy for a above average player to look amazing against high school kids

Im just happy he didnt end up going to the league like he almost did when he 1st de commited from MSU he should still be in HS

He's young. He isnt used to playing better and just as good competition every night, so once he adapts and develops by his sophomore year he'll start doing better. Just give him time.

They are gonna need him, especially now that they are going to the ncaa tournament.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

All that hype dnt feel the same next year boy

I can’t be the only one who seen this coming? Bates is overrated

I’ll say this being seventeen is different also having to do other roles also which is what he has to do not just that he’s going to grow it’s not like he’s going to be a one and done this year

You mean despite the fact he got a lower vertical than 7’6 tacko fall, emoni got a 24, tacko a 26 that’s sad cause it’s so hard for a 7’6 guy to be athletic let alone jump it’s actually really impressive he can get that high

He wasn’t just a #1 prospect he was seen as a once every 5 years sort of prospect

He will be back and he will be ready

He’s still young. Wait to next year he still has to mature physically.

He's going to be a pro if he is humble and works on the mental part of the game

They blow these kids head up Soo much

He's not draft eligible until 2023 anyways, So he still has time to develop and show scouts his stuff.

GOD bless

That boy putting up westbrook shooting numbers haha!!!

#1 player to being benched?? That's wild

College can be humbling

He is the next number one pick

I remember this kid's name on top of NBA draft boards.

I mean, it all goes back to this one truth; you can only be yourself. Analysts and reporters can definitely call somebody “the next Mike” or “the next Lebron” but there’s never going to be a duplicate of any of the greats. I’m not saying that excuses his play but you can’t give into all these comparisons

I can tell you what happened. He plays for a guy that can’t coach. Penny got his job because of his Name.

MENTAL TOUGHNESS he doesnt have it yet

I will preference this by saying I've only watched a few of his highlights so my perspective is limited. I will say with any top prospect, look at their game in the 8th, 9th grade then look at their game in the 11th and 12th. Ask yourself are they playing the same style game, has their game improved, have they added different skills to their game. Physically, is he a good athlete? Is he a quick twitch athlete, is he quick, is he fast, is he strong. Now can he create a good shot for himself with ease or does he struggle to create a decent shot for himself. Bates reclassifying was not a bad idea, what was he going to add new to his game as a Senior in High School? That would have been a waste. Now he can work on the mental aspect of the game, how to see and react to the game differently, how to physically train his body if he is having back issues.

Emoni has to learn his role and play it to the best of his ability. This isn't high school where you can get by on height and athleticism. College is a whole different ball game. One more year in college will do him real good. Let him understand his true position, increase his IQ, put on a few more pounds of muscle, and he'll be fine. As a 17 year old in college he already has a huge advantage over his peers. He's just going through growing pains that's all.

*This happens to around 80% of the top high school players.. they're surrounded by so much hype most of them don't have to mental capacity to endure the pressure..I knew Emomi's flashy And1 style of play wouldn't translate well on the next level..he needs to be coached by Izzo*

more basketball vids bruh

He’ll be fine lol he not even old to be selected in this upcoming nba draft

Honestly it doesn’t matter cause it’s not like he can go to the league he has to wait next year to go to the draft. Next season he kill all season and still gets drafted he’s gone be fine

We have to keep in mind that prospects in college don’t necessarily have to play great in college to go to the NBA. Lots of players get drafted based on their potential anyways. Plus, emoni game will work for him on an NBA court with nba players, it’s a different game when you go through the ranks. Emoni will get smarter and grow but his talent and skills are there, just needs to get his legs under him.

Emoni Bates needs work and time to grow his game. It comes so easy to him but now he is learning how mush harder it is on the college level. He can potentially be great but he has to continue to work and be patient with things, sometimes you have to wait your turn. He was a man among boys in high school, but now he has to step his game up because if he doesn't he will be just another guy. He might just be paying the price for skipping that last year. It isn't a good sign to be playing that bad, he got rushed too soon and talked up too soon.

I seen a few games he lost his focus and his confidence.. basketball to be great u have to be mentally strong..if u have all the skills..then its mental..college u goin go against alot great players ..to be great u have a the killer instincts..he just have to get his mind right

Should have been one of my Spartans. Ole Tom would take care of him .ohhh but he'll no he didn't want that discipline.

It’s not Pennys fault , he was Larry Brown as an assistant for all the comments saying Penny can’t develop players yet. The kid will be fine.

He has a condition called Kevin Willis Arms

EXACTLY WHY PEOPLE NEED TO REALIZE DOMINATED HIGH SCHOOL GAMES VERSES PLAYING WITH GROWN MEN ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!!!! MIKEY WILLIAMS VERSES WESTBROOK ?? HARDEN?? CP3???? NOT EVEN CLOSE…. ONE AND DONE CAN MAKE SOME OF THESE KIDS HATE BASKETBALL LOL

Matt got all in his feelings real quick in this video 😂 He must've lost some money on some of these games.