Tamar Bates, a 6-foot-5 senior shooting guard from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, has verbally committed to play basketball at the University of Texas.
Bates, who averaged 22.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.0 steals a game last season at Kansas City’s Piper High School, chose the Longhorns over Kansas and Missouri, plus Iowa State, Creighton, Oregon and Alabama. He announced the decision on Rivals.com’s Instagram page.
In announcing for Texas with family and members of the KC Run GMC AAU program present Friday morning, Bates, the No. 83-ranked prospect in the recruiting Class of 2021 according to Rivals.com, said after putting an orange Texas hat on his head: “Definitely the biggest factor was being able to play right away, being around coaches and staff and players that were real. It’s a place I know I can win.
“I definitely talked a lot with my family, my teammates, seeing what I was most comfortable with. I had a good Top 10 schools. Shaka (Smart, Texas’ coach) made me a focal point in recruiting. He made it known what will happen. Knowing I’ll be able to play right away and have an immediate impact and having a great relationship with him (Smart) made the decision easier.”
He told Rivals.com he wanted to play for Smart, a Black coach, for reasons besides basketball.
“I wanted to play for a Black head coach with everything that is going on (socially in the country),” Bates said. “It was very important and I feel like I can help get something started. It was important to me to show that I am actually going to do it.
“I feel like Black coaches don’t get the same opportunities to get good players at their schools. I want to go and start something at Texas and bring back the winning tradition.”
Bates was not able to make any official campus visits this summer as the NCAA shut down in-person recruiting because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“I got out to a lot of places before my junior year. I had an idea about a lot of places,” said Bates, who attended the 2019 Late Night in the Phog at KU.
Bates noted that “COVID definitely sped a lot of things up for people to make commitments.”
The 2020 DiRenna Award winner hit 58% of his shots (46% from three) and 88% of his free throws during his junior season for Piper (21-1). He recently told The Star he would head to IMG Academy to begin the school year on Monday, Aug. 31.
At one time Bates also had Kansas State, Colorado, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech and others on his list of possible schools. Now he’s headed to play college basketball in a state from which KU has landed two high school basketball players in the recruiting Class of 2021.
They are: KJ Adams, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound senior power forward out of Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, ranked No. 84 in the recruiting Class of 2021 according to Rivals.com as well as Zach Clemence, a 6-10, 205-pound power forward from San Antonio. He attends Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas and is ranked No. 29 in the Class of 2021. KU is also bringing in a guard in preferred walk-on/football signee Keon Coleman, a 6-4 senior guard from Opelousas (Louisiana) High School.
The Jayhawks have three scholarships to award in 2021, more if players turn pro or leave the program. KU is recruiting several guards in the Class of 2021 including Hunter Sallis, 6-5 from Millard North High School in Omaha, Nebraska; JD Davison, Calhoun High School, Letohatchee, Alabama; Jaden Hardy, Coronado High School, Henderson, Nevada and Trey Alexander, 6-4, Heritage Hall High School, Oklahoma City.
The Jayhawks are recruiting several frontcourt players, including Daimion Collins, Atlanta (Texas) High School; Sam Ayomide, Phelps School, Malvern, Pennsylvania; Michael Foster, Hillcrest Prep, Phoenix; Franck Kepnang, Westtown (Pennsylvania) School; Efton Reid, IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida; DaRon Holmes, Montverde (Florida) Academy; Arthur Kaluma, Dream City Christian, Glendale, Arizona and Sydney Curry, Logan Community College, Carterville, Illinois.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 11:05 AM.
