OT: Emoni Bates and other top High School prospects to attend new “Ypsi Prep Academy”
I don’t know if this was mentioned in the other thread regarding Bates. His father is going to be opening a new school: Ypsi Prep Academy this fall. Among Bates joining the new school, several of the state’s top prospects (4 and 3 Star players) along with out of state players are joining as well.
Michigan has never really had a pure sports based prep school. While private schools like Country Day and public schools like Southwestern in the late 80’s-early 90’s and the Saginaw schools had great runs, they never were consistently stacked with multiple college players. Now, this looks like a school that aims to compete with the Spire’s, Huntington Prep, and Oak Hill’s of the world.
Does having a school like this right in our backyard possibly help our hoops recruiting, or does this mean more in-state talent will be lured away by the Kentucky’s, Kansas’, and Duke’s of the world?
I have a bad feeling this school is going to get a number of kids ineligible for college sports more than it will turn into a talent factory, but we'll see.
This^
Its basically josh jacksons mom opening her own school as opposed to sending him out of state to "build his brand!"
Is papa bates an educator? Does he have the money and staff to deal with accreditation? Hopefully for the kids sake, but my money would be the same as my wager on emoni attending msu.. not f-ing likely.
NBA, just change your rule and let obviously qualified basketball players into your workforce and end this farce already!
Elgin has been a big force on the AAU circuit. I’d bet Nike sponsors this school and you will see top recruits end up at Nike schools. That money will help fund some of the staffing and accreditation hurdles.
NBA, just change your rule and let obviously qualified basketball players into your workforce and end this farce already!
I'm not sure too many 14-18 year-olds are ready to play in the league. Now, whether they should be asked to spend a year in college is another story.
I truly dont mean this to be snark.
But have you watched emoni?
That guy wouldnt be a star or start on a decent team, or even average 10 pts in the league right now. But he would absolutely be a contributor on a playoff team tomorrow.
And how much do those players make?
If the rule was that you have to have a high school degree, and he accelerated a year, he could absolutely contribute to a playoff team and be paid next year, maybe even this year.
At the same time saving us all, and any other less talented player, from this joke of a "school"
Edit: I agree with your basic point about "most" kids, but most kids daddies arent starting their own school either.
I have watched him, in person. But he's one of very few guys that young who could go straight to the league. There's a reason he made the cover of SI. (Even then, given how thin he is, he'd probably have some trouble going through an 82-game season.)
Asking these guys to wait until age 18 is reasonable. 19 and beyond is pushing it.
So you have seen him live and we basically agree.
The system in screwing him. He will not spend a day at msu. And this "school" is a joke.
Its a way for his dad to line his pockets for a few years when the kid should be making real money.
I saw him back when he was at Clague and was playing with a former kid I mentored at Peace Neighborhood Center was playing with him. In addition to that I saw him live last year in the finals and highlights from this year. There is no doubt in my mind if he was able to, he would be the #1 pick in this year’s draft.
The thing is though, players like him are once, maybe twice a decade type players. Zion wasn’t this good as a 16 year old, and how many 1 and dones have gone to the NBA and just sucked; a la Josh Jackson
The crazy thing is, this isn't a case like CWebb or Zion where he is physically a man among boys. He's built like a teenager. When he fills out his frame and add more strength to his game . . . he will be unreal.
I mean yeah, he doesn't get an NBA payday for the next two years. But I don't really fault the league for drawing the line at the end of high school. I think it's a bit dicey to let guys going through puberty to compete with grown men.
But this thing his dad's doing is weird. A friend of mine had Emoni as a student and said he/his family took academics seriously. Starting their own imitation IMG school seems really out of the blue.
The same was said about 19 year old kids a few years ago. It doesn't really matter if they can play or not anymore. As long as they have potential to play they will be going pro before too long and without any sort of age restriction.
Gonna be interesting to see some 16 year old who washed out a couple years earlier talking about his big come back.
My thoughts exactly.
Interesting. I think it can only help to have Juwan and the staff a short drive away from a major recruiting pipeline.
Seemingly doesn't hurt. Only hindrance is that Elgin Bates (Emoni's dad) who runs it is pro-MSU and may steer some kids that way. Nonetheless, haven't seen anything about him being a road block or anything for kids regarding UM.
My Crush: That guy who I've kinda be into...
Me: That guy who you'd kinda be into...
My Crush: That guy who I've kinda be into... is Shea.
did you finish cutting and baling your hay or not?
*fart noises*
So why would any top player in the country want to go there once Bates is gone. It’d be like vacationing in Detroit,
It's better! It's vacationing in Ypsitucky!
Hey man, Depot Town is looking good these days. After about 30 years, they finally finished renovating that Civil War era building down there. It looks great.
One of the top basketball prep schools is in West Virginia. And it might be somewhat regional, some kids might want to be driving distance from home.
Thus ends Lincoln's very brief run as a state basketball powerhouse, I guess. Was fun while it lasted.
which shoe company and agent are behind this idea?
I have a strong hunch this school will fold shortly after Bates high school eligibility is done.
^this^.
that’s going to be one strange “school”. Essentially the equivalent of a pop-up restaurant. I can see it now...
Emoni has a cold=“school” cancelled.
Emoni “graduated”=school cancelled, permenantly.
Who is gonna send their kid to a temp school? The idea that his dad would even consider keeping that running is nutso. It isn’t like he’s the John Wooden of high school athletes. What’s his hook going to be? “Come play at my school because my son, who will be gone next year, is a generational talent”?
Utah is right. "Ypsi Prep Academy" will be in existence for two years if Emoni Bates graduates in 2022. It will be in existence for one year if Emoni Bates graduates in 2021.
What does Emonis dad do for a living? I imagine it takes a lot of capital to start up a school
Or could this be a sign he is receiving heavy money from nike/adidas/etc
Right!!! I'll go out on a limb and predict that the "academy" will close after Bates is gone.
Oak Hill Academy has a proven track record and pedigree.
Huntington Prep is fairly new, but it is attached to a legit private religious school in Huntington.
SPIRE has had their various financial issues, but their complex itself is pretty legit. They have facilities, along with some notable alums.
Can Ypsi Prep Academy say any of the above? I don't think so. As others below said, it's possible if not probable that this is a 2-year thing and that's it.
Reminds me of living in the Philly area near the somewhat well known Red Lion Christian Academy which was something of a football magnet school for a while. I think they deemphasized football so IIRC David Sills dad went ahead and opened up Elkton Christian to be a new football factory. Both seem less about providing an education and more about practicing your sport
I spend falls in Las Vegas and the football factory that Bishop Gorman has put together there is about 3 levels higher than any other team in the state. They have a running clock in every game.
They play on ESPN multiple times a year, fly all over the country to play and expose their players, have a nicer practice field than other teams real fields, wear a different game day uniform for EACH contest, bring in multiple out of state talent every year, have a jumbo tron for replays during the game. It honestly is too much imo and seems to take the fun out of the whole HS football experience.
A big part of this is them giving the middle finger to the archaic mhsaa rules.
For example, the fact that the MHSAA doesn’t allow teams to play on live TV (with the exception of the finals) is ridiculous and extremely outdated
They do now allow live streamed events through NFHSNetwork.
Oddly enough, Lincoln is not one of the few schools in the area that has yet to start streaming their games. (You'll see a couple away games on there): https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/lincoln-high-school-ypsilanti-ypsilanti-mi/basketball
It's relatively new (2ish years), but you'd think Lincoln - with Emoni Bates - would have been the first area in the school to start streaming home games live.
(Note: I do know this is different than broadcast TV)
The good news is that they likely won't be allowed to play in the Michigan high school tournament.
Seems unfair that a group of kids who grew up together and put in all the years of hard work be denied for most of them their greatest athletic memory ever all cause the actions of a few making a mockery of high school sports
They are not an MHSAA sanctioned team. They cannot participate in the tournaments. Already confirmed.
Glorified diploma mill.
What could be better preparation to attend the Michigan States of the world?
Could this be a reason why Juwon hasn't offered Jayvaughn Hannah yet? MattEM said he was surprised he didn't. Maybe JH is having a pause not knowing what this "school" is going to be all about.
Atkins and Hannah will be playing there with Bates, which doesn't give me good feelings about them coming to UM.
Matt has said in the past that Hannah is really interested in Michigan and we would be the presumed leader as soon as he's offered. Not sure why we haven't offered yet, but it's also still somewhat early to be putting out offers. Hannah has visited Michigan ~5 times and we have a good relationship with him
I was coaching 8th grade basketball in 2016-17 and we played Mt Clemens. Hannah was a 7th grader on the 8th grade team. After winning the tip he pulled up from NBA 3 and drained it. Next possession he got a steal and dunked (a technical for some reason in middle school). He scored 30 of the teams 39 points (thank goodness for the middle school minute limit). I remember thinking, this kid is something.
Claim to fame was when Hannah was in 8th grade, we were the only team to beat him in his entire MS career (winning 53-49). Since his team only had 6 players he was able to play all game, but fouled out which paved the way for our victory. 2022 WR Tay’Shawn Trent led the comeback that day.
I hope this new prep school is successful, others pop up because of the success and the MHSAA splits high school athletics into 3 tiers- these prep schools as tier 1, private schools as tier 2, and public school as tier 3 and each has a separate post season
In Michigan, there's not much of a reason to split up private/public.
Do some private schools skirt the MHSAA undue influence (recruiting) rules? Yes.
However, with school of choice, it's just as common, if not moreso, for public school coaches to do the same. Take a look at all the new charter academies that are basically basketball factories. Or even just multi-high school cities that offer school of choice.
Michigan targets Jaden Akins and Javaughn Hannah will both be on that team. Hopefully pro MSU Elgin Bates doesn't have much influence on them and they don't run into academic eligibility issues due to how big of a joke this "school" will be. They will play some pretty solid competition though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEobavQQQno
The kid can shoot this was when he was 15 years old he put up 70 in a row , mind you it's all from the same spot but still impressive. I guess teams know his spot after this video
I bet anything that Izzo funneled money to the father to help start this school. Watch how many players from this school end up at MSU.