NCAA Basketball: Takeaways from Emoni Bates shocking transfer to Eastern Michigan

Eastern Michigan becomes a contender with Emoni Bates

It’s been 25 years since the Eagles made the NCAA Tournament, one of the longer postseason droughts in the MAC. The program has taken a downward turn in the past few years and made a recent coaching change. Stan Heath took over a year ago and the team finished 10-21 (5-15) this past season.

Of the nine main rotation players from last season, six of them have either graduated or transferred out. But the star and leading scorer of the team, Noah Farrakhan (16.6 ppg and 2.3 apg) is back for his junior season. The 6’2 transfer guard from Eastern Michigan was a breakout star and gave the team an All-MAC performer and someone for Bates to work with.

Three other incoming transfers to the Eagles include Jalin Billingsley (Georgetown), Legend Geeter (Providence), and Tyson Acuff (Duquesne), who could also have the kind of breakout campaign as Farrakhan. Add Bates to the mix and this is a rotation that features plenty of high-major talent.

But where would Eastern Michigan place in the MAC? The conference lost a lot of talent this offseason, including Toledo star Ryan Rollins, Mark Sears and Ben Vander Plas of Ohio, and  Jeenathan Williams of Buffalo. The one star guard that is coming back is Sincere Carry of Kent State, making them a preseason favorite for the league next season.

There’s still lots of talent in the MAC and EMU has to make all of these pieces work. But it wouldn’t be surprising to see them double their league wins from 5 to 10+ if things go well. And with a higher seed, a possible run in the conference tournament could be in the cards.