About a month ago, Class of 2024 five-star point guard Elliot Cadeau announced his top six.
Cadeau is a prime prospect in the class of 2024, ranked 10th in the country by 247Sports and the nation’s top point guard. The junior at Link Academy plays his AAU ball for the EYBL’s NY Lightning. He is also a Swedish international who has played with the U18 and senior national team. With that, there’s a ton of poise in 6-foot-1 guard’s game, along with some ridiculous athleticism.
Cadeau’s top six consists of four national title contenders, Syracuse and Louisville. With that, let’s rank the chance Cadeau goes to each school.
- North Carolina
UNC presents the best chance for Cadeau to start immediately, win a conference title and compete on a consistent national stage night after night (while earning buckets of NIL money in the process. Cadeau has already visited Chapel Hill.
“I know they are a winning program. I know they produce a lot of pros and winners. I’m definitely interested in them because they’re a really good program. Hubert Davis talks to me (and) they stick out because they show a lot of interest in me. There are not a lot of programs where the head coach talks to me a lot but they are one of them.”
Elliot Cadeau to InsideCarolina
North Carolina will have guard spots to fill after the departures of Caleb Love and R.J. Davis, whenever they choose to leave. Hubert Davis has shown he can reload year after year, and has a commit from 2023 5-star Simeon Wilcher. There are also some young guys already in the fold in Seth Trimble and D’Marco Dunn. Both Wilcher and Trimble are talented enough to leave by 2023, so all things considered, there should be a starting spot for Cadeau.
2. Texas Tech
Cadeau at one point called Texas Tech his “dream school” and said that he’s been a Red Raiders fan for a long time. The Red Raiders have been consistently good under Chris Beard, then Mark Adams, utilizing an elite pack line defense and just enough offense to get by. As far as his role, Cadeau would be the team’s starting point guard from day one, not necessarily surrounded by NBA talent, but a supporting cast which would play their roles well.
Texas Tech has two shooting guards committed in the class of 2023, and no commits in the class of 2024. Unless the Red Raiders get active in the portal, which Adams has done, but not with point guards, Cadeau will be their top priority.
3. Kansas
There is no team that relies on guard play as much as Kansas. Bill Self lets his point guards run free, and he’s got a track record of sending them to the NBA (Mario Chalmers, Frank Mason, Devonte Graham). NIL is definitely in play with the Jayhawks.
Unless sophomore Bobby Pettiford has a breakout 2023, he’ll have the inside track to starting the next two years. Kansas also has three four-star guards coming in for 2023, so there’s a log jam at the position which a potential one-and-done prospect like Cadeau will look to avoid.
4. Texas
Texas is coming up in the basketball world, with Beard taking over and the athletic department and fanbase properly investing in the program. However, they’re another program with a guard logjam. Texas currently has two elite transfer guards, two class of 2022 point guards, and another committed in the class of 2023. They can’t all get out of the way for Cadeau. Beard has also been extremely aggressive in the portal, and nothing will change as the Texas athletic department remains one of the major earners is college sports.
5. Syracuse
As always seems to be the case, Syracuse was one of the first schools to get in contact with Cadeau, which the guard says “was big.” But as we’ve seen with Donovan Clingan and other high-major recruits, that doesn’t mean much.
The Orange will need guard help in 2024, as Joe Girard can’t stay in college forever and after what we’ve seen through the first three weeks, Judah Mintz is a surefire NBA player after one or two years of college hoops. Quadir Copeland could potentially run the point, but right now, Jim Boeheim seems to like playing him at the two or three on the wing. This would be a great spot for the coaching staff to sell Cadeau on being the guy, and for Adam Weitsman to hand out that $1 million.
Two problems for SU, however: Cadeau’s size could limit his defensive effectiveness in the 2-3 zone, and as we know, Boeheim doesn’t like playing guys who struggle defensively. Also, with Boeheim’s retirement date unknown, there could be turnover in the ‘Cuse program within the next two years. Cadeau says he’s has mostly spoken with one unnamed assistant, which would hopefully help if one of Allen Griffin, Red Autry or G-Mac gets promoted. However, with what other programs have done from hiring younger coaches from outside their programs (Eric Musselman at Arkansas, Tommy Lloyd at Arizona) and the success that Matt Langel’s had at Colgate, it might be worth exploring other options as the zone loses favor.
6. Louisville
Cadeau has already visited Louisville. The Cardinals have had a disastrous start to the 2022 season, losing buy games to Bellarmine, Wright State and App State. The saving grace for Kenny Payne is NIL, which is mostly basketball-focused in Louisville. I guess the other saving grace would be the chance to turn around a program which has redefined its version of “rock bottom” over the past couple of weeks. Louisville already has a commitment from class of 2024 point guard TJ Robinson.
