Michigan head coach Juwan Howard was in to see Emoni Bates Tuesday night in his team's loss to Ann Arbor Huron. That and more ...

Howard was in attendance for Ypsilanti Lincoln's game, with Tim Hardaway Sr. joining him. Bates started slowly but picked it up.

Bates has been to Michigan State multiple times, and many believe MSU would be the team to beat if he played college ball. U-M has quietly been working on this one for a while, though, and Rivals.com's Corey Evans believes U-M would have a shot.

"I would just be guessing with Emoni Bates and his potential college landing spots, but, if he does decide to play college basketball, it is within reason to believe that Michigan will have a chance," he wrote.

"Prior to the hiring of Juwan Howard, the Wolverines were not entirely involved with Bates. Michigan State was the primary school that had invested any sort of interest in him. That changed once Howard took over. In the fall, Bates took an unofficial visit to Ann Arbor and last month, was on hand for a Michigan home game. For Bates’ season-opener, Howard and his fellow Fab Five teammate, Jalen Rose, were courtside. They wouldn’t have invested this type of interest in him if there wasn’t a real chance that Bates would be open to the Big Ten program.

"What this comes down to is whether the one-and-done rule is actually erased for members of the 2022 class and if he decides he would rather player in college compared to, what some recent prep stars have begun to do, and that is play a year overseas before entering the NBA Draft.

"For where things currently sit, Michigan and Michigan State are the likeliest landing spots for Bates thanks to the in-state ties and their early investment in recruiting the phenom."

Another in-stater, Jaden Akins, was in for U-M's game with Michigan State, and while he told us he's not planning to be in again (Michigan's last game is with Nebraska Thursday), the Wolverines have turned up the heat.

Akins had another very good game Tuesday night.

Finally, there's been plenty of speculation on Josh Christopher, the five-star who seems to have been leaning Michigan for some time. From Evans:

Five-star senior Josh Christopher isn’t just a tremendous basketball player, he’s as savvy as they come in the social media world. The big time scorer at Lakewood (Calif.) Mayfair isn’t just a McDonald’s All-American, he’s as much of an influencer on Twitter and Instagram as a high school basketball player can be.

Recently, his posts have led to speculation that he’s set a a decision date for April 13. I called Christopher’s father Laron Christopher to see if that date was when his son would be announcing.

“No, there’s no date set,” the elder Christopher told me.

The most specific that Mr. Christopher could get about a decision date was that it was “coming soon."

In case anybody needs a refresher on Christopher’s recruitment, here is where things stand. He’s down to a final four of Arizona State, Michigan, Missouri and UCLA. He has seen all of them. If he wanted to use them, Christopher also has two official visits remaining. However, considering the college season is ending and Christopher is slated to play in four All-Star type games -- Hoop Summit, Iverson Classic, Jordan Brand Classic and the McDonald’s All-American Game – between late March and late April, finding time to take any additional visits may be tough.

For the past few weeks, both colleague Corey Evans and I have pegged Michigan as the team to beat. But, I couldn’t say I feel like that’s a stone-cold lock to happen and I wouldn’t be surprised if Christopher – who has made it a habit of breaking his own news about visits, school list etc. – comes up with something unique when he commits.

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