Does Oregon basketball have a real shot with Emoni Bates?

The Emoni Bates sweepstakes took an interesting turn this week when the five-star 2022 prospect who decommitted from Michigan State a few months ago released a top eight.

And guess what? Oregon basketball was included.

Are we even surprised anymore? The Ducks are seemingly always in the mix for top prospects under the direction of Dana Altman. He landed five-star Dior Johnson earlier this summer and had a monster offseason in terms of replacing departing talent on the roster for 2021-22.

Other than adding Johnson to the 2022 class, Altman pieced together a solid roster for 2021-22 with the additions of De’Vion Harmon from Oklahoma, Jacob Young from Rutgers, JUCO transfer Rivaldo Soares, and Quincy Guerrier from Syracuse. That’s not even mentioning five-star big man Nathan Bittle and former four-star big Isaac Johnson who will be freshmen this season.

Picking up a commitment from a player the caliber of Bates, who has been regarded as the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2022 class, would be gigantic.

It would really put Oregon basketball in the national title conversation for the forseeable future — if it isn’t already.

Does Oregon basketball have a real shot with Emoni?

Honestly, landing Emoni isn’t going to be an easy task. Michigan State had been recruiting him the longest and was really the only program making an effort with him for a while because everyone else assumed he was going pro out of high school, but even the Spartans couldn’t hold onto him.

Emoni was committed to Michigan State for less than a year before reopning his recruitment this spring and now he’s down to eight options. The Spartans are included in this top eight along with Memphis, Miami, Baylor, and of course Oregon, but the NBL, Overtime Elite, and G-League look to be leading the way here.

If I had to put a prediction on it, I would say that the professional route holds about a 95 percent chance here. I would say Oregon’s odds are at around one percent along with the other college basketball programs to make the cut.

Basically, Emoni is probably going pro. Sorry, Oregon fans.