After almost two months of speculation, the rumors have come true, as 2024 five-star point guard, Elliot Cadeau will reclassify and join the UNC program for the upcoming 2023-24 season. With Carolina seeing Caleb Love, & D’Marco Dunn exiting the program via the transfer portal, there was a need for another floor general on the roster. Carolina has added a guard in Cormac Ryan, and a wing in Paxson Wojcik, capable of handling the basketball, but neither is a natural point guard, like Cadeau.
The steam for Cadeau to reclassify really picked up in the last couple of months, as he continued to dominate on the summer circuit. There aren’t many players in the high school ranks, that are too good to play at the high school level, but Cadeau fits that criteria, and will now join a team looking to bounce back after a disappointing 20-13 season last year.
According to Inside Carolina, Cadeau will enroll next month, as he begins to make the transition from the high school ranks, to picking up the Carolina system. During the EYBL regular season, Cadeau averaged 15.7 points and 9.3 assists, on 50% shooting from the field, including 35% from behind the arc, as he led the New Heights Lightning to a 13-4 record. That follows a successful junior season at Link Academy in Branson, MO where he averaged 10.9 points and 7.6 assists and helped lead the team to a GEICO Nationals title in late March.
Cadeau arrives in Chapel Hill as the No. 1 point guard in the 2024 class before reclassifying, and instantly changes Carolina’s offense overnight. Something that Carolina has missed in recent years, is a guard that can push the tempo, especially in the open floor. He will be a major boost in that department with his explosiveness in transition and precision passing. The team hasn’t had someone that moves the ball the way he does since Joel Berry II left campus back in 2018 and getting that elite facilitator back in this offense should pay huge dividends on the efficiency of this offense.
While his passing is the thing most people have been raving about, Cadeau has shown in the past few months that has the ability to score and create. His ball handling has opened some eyes and it allows him to create separation for himself, including in isolation situations. He has shown on the EYBL circuit that he has the ability to score the ball and do so efficiently, something that the point guards since Berry’s departure haven’t been able to do with consistency.
The big question is what role will Cadeau have this upcoming season? Unlike Love and Cole Anthony before him, he will not be forced to start immediately with the weight of being told he has to carry the team. Having the ability to be a contributor off the bench first and potentially earn a starting job if he shines. Not having a ton of pressure on him with a veteran ball handler like R.J. Davis may be the best thing for his long term development. With that being said, it seems obvious that he has what it takes to be a major contributor this season.
This is a move that has been coming for a while, but it can’t be understated how important this is. The program has been in need of an old school point guard that can get the basketball moving again and it looks like they have the best guy for that role and he is coming to campus a year early.
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