Versatile point guard Elliot Cadeau has been a perfect fit at Michigan, which has an eye on a national title originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Michigan assistant coach Akeem Miskdeen knew the men’s basketball team needed a different kind of point guard.
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The Wolverines reached the Sweet 16 under first-year coach Dusty May in 2024-25, but the top two leaders in assists were gone. Tre Donaldson – who averaged 11.3 points and 4.1 assists – transferred to Miami. Danny Wolf – a 6-foot-11 forward and a first-round pick by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2025 NBA Draft – also brought the ball up the floor at times.
Elliot Cadeau – who spent the previous two seasons at North Carolina – emerged as an interesting option in the transfer portal. Why did he fit?
“We knew Elliot was a pass-first guy,” Miskdeen told The Sporting News. “That is what we were looking for this offseason – this past offseason. I think we helped him more with playing off the ball. You’re talking about spacing. He usually played with the ball in his hands at Carolina and everywhere else he’s been. I think we have helped each other.”
MORE: SN’s latest forecast for March Madness bracket
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Cadeau – who averages 10.2 points per game – is one of four players who averages double figures for No. 3 Michigan (26-2). He ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 5.5 assists per game. Cadeau is a pivotal player for the Wolverines – who can clinch an outright Big Ten championship with a victory at No. 10 Illinois on Friday.
Michigan bounced back from a 68-63 loss against No. 1 Duke on Saturday with a 77-67 victory against Minnesota on Tuesday. Cadeau had the ball in his hands as the final seconds ticked off against the Gophers at Crisler Arena after compiling 15 points, five assists and just one turnover.
“There are certain players who can make an impact – and a positive impact – on a basketball game even if they were told before the game, ‘You are not allowed to shoot,'” Michigan play-by-play announcer Brian Boesch told SN. “Elliot is absolutely one of those. He has a composure and an understanding of where his teammates are going to be that is pretty elite.”
How that evolves will determine whether Michigan can advance to the Elite Eight – and beyond in the upcoming 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
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How Elliot Cadeau fits at Michigan
Boesch remembers one of his first conversations with Cadeau, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound point guard who averaged 9.4 points and 6.4 assists for the Tar Heels last season. Boesch said Cadeau was “giddy” at the prospect of playing for the Wolverines because of the team’s height, which includes a front line with 6-foot-9 forwards Yaxel Lendenborg (14.2 ppg.) and Morez Johnson (13.3 ppg.) and 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara (11.1 ppg.).
“I felt like I can go into a different system and be able to play well at it,” Cadeau told SN. “I went to Sweden. I played lots of different types of basketball. I feel like that has helped me be more versatile and being able to fit wherever I play at.”
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Cadeau – whose mother Michelle is from Sweden – made his debut for the country’s national team in 2023.
With Cadeau at point guard, the Wolverines average 89.1 points per game with nine players who score at least four points per game. Michigan has not lost a road game this season, and Cadeau averaged 12 points and 6.3 assists in road wins against No. 13 Michigan State, Ohio State and No. 8 Purdue – some of the toughest places to play in the Big Ten. He has been a natural for May’s fast-paced system at Michigan.
He displayed that off-ball movement against Minnesota’s zone defense Tuesday. Cadeau hit two 3-pointers on plays where he started from the dead spot under the foul line before finding the open area on the perimeter.
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“It is a different kind of spacing than I have ever played on in the offense because the coach just teaches us how to play basketball without running any plays,” Cadeau said. “I feel like every spot is filled every time. Everybody is in the right place, and that opens up my offensive game because I like passing a lot and I know where everybody is going to be.”
Cadeau has six games with eight assists or more, and Michigan scored 100 points or more in five of those games. Miskdeen works closely with Cadeau in practice and has helped in that development.
“Any time you are a point guard and you play at North Carolina – or you play anywhere – and you average more than five assists that means you’re probably pretty smart and you have some pretty good players around you,” Miskdeen said. “I think he had a little bit of both. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever coached.”
Cadeau, Lendenborg, Johnson and Mara arrived at Michigan from the transfer portal. Miskdeen said those four players have blended well with Michigan’s key returners from last season along with Trey McKenney, a freshman starter who averages 9.8 points per game.
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Miskdeen points to the screams coming from the team’s banquet room as proof of concept. The coaching staff encourages players to put their phones away and simply play games such as chess and checkers. Cadeau – like his teammates – is in the middle of those heated competitions.
Boesch recalled a story from the 110-69 victory against Penn State on Feb. 5. Nimari Burnett had 15 points by halftime. In the locker room, Cadeau asked Burnett a question: “Hey, what’s your career high?”
Burnett tried to deflect, but Cadeau was persistent with a message: “All right, we are feeding Nimari. We are getting him the big game.”
Burnett finished with 31 points. Cadeau also has a close relationship with point guard LJ Cason, a sophomore guard who averages 8.3 points and 2.4 assists. Cason had 14 points and a career-high four 3-pointers against the Gophers on Tuesday. Cadeau had the assist on the fourth 3-pointer, which gave the Wolverines a 63-49 lead.
“We have a really strong relationship off the court as well,” Cadeau said. “We have played a lot of 1-on-1’s against each other. We know each other’s game and we know how to play well off each other.”
Dusty May on Michigan guards ahead of March Madness
Cadeau had eight points on 1 of 8 shooting and six assists in the loss to Duke, which dropped Michigan from the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25. Cason had seven points and two assists. May was asked at his press conference Monday whether he believed the backcourt will be good enough in the NCAA tournament.
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“I think you look at last year’s national champion – Florida – had good guards, they had good bigs,” May said. “When we went to the Final Four, we had good guards. UConn won it all that year, they had a lot of everything. … I think we have a very good backcourt, and I think we have a very good frontcourt. I like having them both. Good on both.”
May, of course, is referencing the run he made at FAU as a No. 9 seed in the 2023 NCAA tournament. Miskdeen added an alternative view of how the team viewed the loss to the Blue Devils on Saturday.
“What an awesome game for us,” he said. “A learning experience. I’ve never coached in the Final Four, but I’m thinking that’s what a Final Four game would feel like. I think you could take something away from it; we have to be better moving the ball. We only had 15 assists.”
Michigan has not won an NCAA championship since the 1988-89 season. Trey Burke led the Wolverines to the national championship game in 2012-13, and Zavier Simpson was the point guard on the 2017-18 team that reached the national title game. Michigan’s guards will be a key in a deep tournament run. Boesch said he will watch how Michigan employs Cadeau and Cason, especially how much both are on the floor at the same time, in the last few Big Ten games.
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“Will any Michigan guard have a 2013 Trey Burke-like run?” Boesch asked. “No, probably not. That was the next level. I think Michigan has good enough guards to win the national championship.
“Elliott is going to have a game or two where he has eight or 10 assists, and he is probably going to have to have a game or two where he has 15 or 20 points,” Boesch said. “I like his ability to understand what his team needs in a given game and go out and execute it.”
Cadeau, meanwhile, said the Wolverines are staying in the present tense. Illinois is yet another road test before the final week of the season, which includes matchups against Iowa and Michigan State.
“We talk about it all the time,” Cadeau said. “We have been called overrated before. We have been called the best before. We kind of all know now just to ignore. Whatever people say about us, we know the truth about our team.”
