Oregon basketball right in thick of Emoni Bates sweepstakes

Dana Altman is a dang magician. Not only did he already piece together one heck of an offseason, adding a handful of talented transfers to replace Chris Duarte, LG Figueroa, and Eugene Omoruyi, but he also landed one of the top point guards in the 2022 class in Dior Johnson.

The future of Oregon basketball is bright, there’s no denying that.

The immediate future could be in for a major upgrade soon as the No. 2 player in the country just narrowed his list from eight to four, including the Ducks.

Emoni Bates, the No. 2 player in the 2022 class, put Oregon in his top four along with Michigan State (where he was previously committed), Memphis, and the G-League.

Oh yeah, and he reclassified to the 2021 class so if he does choose the collegiate route, he will be on campus in about a month. This is massive news for the final four options involved.

What could help the Ducks’ case here is the new NIL which could allow Emoni to make money off endorsement deals and with Oregon being the Nike school, it has as good a chance as any to promise a young star massive deals. He would almost immediately be offered a Nike deal if he were to commit to Oregon.

Emoni Bates might be an immediate starter

If Emoni does choose Oregon, he’d likely be an instant starter at the small forward spot over Rivaldo Soares and Quincy Guerrier would likely move into a power forward role as a smaller four.

A starting five with Bates would likely be this:

PG: De’Veon Harmon
SG: Will Richardson
SF: Emoni Bates
PF: Quincy Guerrier
C: N’Faly Dante

With guys like Jacob Young, Soares, Franck Kepnang, Nathan Bittle, Isaac Johnson, Eric Williams Jr., and Lok Wur coming off the bench, this makes for one of the best rosters in the country.

Oregon is right in the mix for a polarizing recruit and he could be a Duck as soon as this month.