SI All-American Candidates: 1 Texas Commit and 1 Key Longhorns Target Named
Tamar Bates, a shooting guard from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., is Texas's lone verbal commitment from the high school class of 2021 who has been named a Sports Illustrated All-American candidates.
Bates committed to the Longhorns in August. The Kansas City native, who transferred to IMG Academy for his senior season, chose Texas over scholarship offers from Kansas, Missouri, Iowa State and more. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 22.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a junior.
Texas remains in the chase for Charles Bediako, a teammate of Bates at IMG and the only uncommitted SI99 honoree currently considering the Longhorns. Along with Texas, the 6-foot-10 big man lists Alabama, Duke, Michigan and Ohio State as his top-five choices for college.
Hundreds and hundreds of student-athletes were evaluated for the SI99—Sports Illustrated’s ranking of the top-99 senior high school basketball players in the country—before the list of All-American candidates was finalized. Video highlights, scouting analyses and a breakdown of each player’s college verbal commitment and/or top college contenders can be found on their bio pages at SIAllAmerican.com.
The SI99 was unveiled on Dec. 2, accompanied by lists of prospects ordered by state and college choice/contenders. Position rankings, in-depth videos on top-rated players and more will be released throughout the remainder of December. Sports Illustrated’s final All-American teams for the 2020-21 prep hoops season will be announced in coming months.