Kansas basketball: Major recruiting target Tamar Bates announcing ‘soon’

Tamar Bates, a four-star point guard in the 2021 recruiting and a major target for Kansas basketball says that he will be announcing his commitment soon.

As of now, the Kansas Jayhawks have two recruits in their 2021 recruiting class: four-star forwards KJ Adams and Zach Clemence. A top target for Kansas basketball recently hinted at a decision coming soon though.

Tamar Bates, a Kansas City native, tweeted “Decision coming soon…” most likely regarding his decision on where to play basketball in college. Bates released his top seven schools earlier this month, with the list featuring Kansas, Iowa State, Texas, Creighton, Missouri, Alabama, and Oregon, and his tweet does imply that he’s made a decision.

While Kansas certainly seemed to have the advantage in recruiting him, there’s only one Crystal Ball prediction, and it has Bates going to Texas. The projection was made earlier this week by Nick Harris, a writer for Horns247.

Over on Rivals, six out of seven predictions are in favor of the Jayhawks, but all of those predictions came back February of this year. The one non-Kansas prediction is to Texas and was made in August.

Obviously the predictions by experts aren’t always right, but they can generally be a good indicator. It looks like Shaka Smart and Texas have made a strong push for Bates, and it’ll be a fight between the Longhorns and Jayhawks to land the talented prospect, and he is talented.

A commitment from Bates would easily catapult Kansas’ 2021 recruiting class into the top 10 nationally,  and he could easily become a really great guard at Kansas. Standing at six-foot-four, Bates can elevate and play above the rim, and he’s also a good shooter from behind the arc. His junior season highlights are impressive, and it’s exciting to think about how much better he can get at IMG Academy next season.

Kansas definitely has a good chance to get Bates, but it’s tough to ignore the progress Texas has been making.  Unfortunately, Bates did not specify a commitment date, so hopefully we’ll know his decision sometime within the coming weeks.