KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- As a junior, four-star guard Tamar Bates has emerged as a priority recruit in the Midwest.

Rivals.com was in attendance earlier this week as the 6-foot-4 combo guard led Kansas City (Kans.) Piper to a win while scoring 25 points, handing out eight assists and grabbing seven rebounds.

Ranked No. 94 nationally in 2021, Bates has felt a different energy from opponents this year. That's fine by him because he loves to compete.

"When teams come out and play and see Piper on their schedule I can tell their energy is different," Bates told Rivals.com. "When I go and watch teams and go scout, I can tell from the way they play somebody else that they are up to play us. I really embrace it because I get good competition every night because I know somebody is coming in to try and stop me.

"I just have a deep passion for the game that really runs in the family. I feel like if I don't give my all, if I don't pour my heart into every game then I feel like I'm disrespecting the game. I want to have a dog mentality every time out there."

Bates play has landed him scholarship offers from Abilene Christian, Creighton, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Missouri State, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Saint Louis and Wichita State.

"A lot of coaches tell me that they see me playing the one and the two," said Bates. "I'm comfortable with either position, I think I'm a combo guard. Whatever they feel is best for the team and me is where I will be comfortable playing."

Bates has already seen Creighton (officially and unofficially), Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Oklahoma and says that he's looking to set up an official visit with Northwestern. He discussed each program.

Creighton: "It's really a family atmosphere. Me and my family we feel really welcome. We feel like I'm a priority for them and that they are really interested for me to come to their school. It's a really good atmosphere to be in and I enjoy my time up there."

Kansas: "After the Texas Tech game we were there, me my dad one of my teammates and my brother. Coach (Bill) Self was doing media and coach (Norm) Roberts and (Fred) Quartlebaum they came and reiterated what they always say. That they are serious about me, that they want me and that they are offering me a scholarship. When I go up there it's sold out every game, it's a crazy atmosphere and it's different than watching on tv my whole life when I'm there at floor level."

Kansas State: "They tell me a lot of the same stuff that many of the other schools, such as Creighton, that they really want me to come to their school. They say that they really need a Kansas City guy. They just love the way I play and the way that I get after it every night. They just feel like what I can bring to the team that I could help them win more games in the Big 12, help them get deep in the NCAA Tournament and that they are recruiting me as hard as they can so I can help them win more games."

Missouri: "Cuonzo Martin has more of a, well I don't want to say it's a business like approach but he knows that there is more to the game than just basketball. He always talks about being grateful and showing gratitude all the time and really just being a good man. Me and my dad, that's how I've always been raised, so we love his pitch and what he always talks about. He's just a real guy. We rarely ever talk about basketball. He came to a game a couple of weeks ago, he's just a real good guy."

Northwestern: They just talk a lot and their coach Chris Collins focuses a lot on being able to develop me and get me better every year and really just win games. Coach (Emanuel) Dildy one of the assistants who is doing a lot of my recruiting, he's just on me. They got my guy Ty Berry already and they say they need me to be able to go into a hostile environment like Indiana or Michigan State and not back down from anybody and to really want to beat those teams. That's what they preach to me.

Oklahoma State: "(Mike Boynton) has more of a, and a lot of this is because he's closer to my age, it's like the relationship is totally different. There's less of an age gap so it's like where the relationship is like a regular conversation all the time. Of course they want me to be a Cowboy. They feel like I could really help them out and the recruiting class they have coming in now is pretty big. So they just want to keep that going."

Bates isn't looking to rush things and his first focus is on finishing his high school season strong. Then he and his family will look towards making some stops.

"We are going to take some officials after the high school season is over," said Bates. "We don't know or have set dates yet but we've been texting a lot of schools. Depending how the spring and summer goes and who else looks to offer and recruit me hard, I could look to those schools."

In addition to Northwestern, Bates listed Kansas State as one likely to get a visit and he'll still be open to adding more stops and more teams to his list. Later in the summer, he'll cut things down and then try to work towards an early decision.

"I'll probably want to make a decision before my senior year. I'd like to maybe make a decision sometime around September or October so that I can focus on school and my senior season."