Frosh Campaign Gave Cadeau Fuel for His Next Step

To many, a lasting image of Elliot Cadeau’s freshman season is him sitting on the bench over the final 15:30 of North Carolina’s Sweet 16 loss to Alabama.

It was a curious decision by UNC Coach Hubert Davis, especially considering Cadeau had played fairly well up to that point scoring eight points, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers, his ninth and tenth made threes of the season.

Cadeau was surprised by not re-entering the game, but said he understood it. The firestorm set off among many UNC fans wasn’t replicated within the team’s locker room.

Instead, Davis’ decision reflected two truths about Cadeau, both of which are major points of emphasis this offseason. He must improve his shooting, that night notwithstanding, and he must get better defensively.

Cadeau had a solid freshman season. He was sensational sometimes, and struggled on occasion, too. But he progressed, and will continue to.

“I’ve got to do better and I’m confident I will,” he said in late March, while discussing moving forward.

Cadeau shot 18.9% from the perimeter this past season, converting 10 of 53 attempts. Many teams backed off him essentially daring the freshman to shoot. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn’t.

It was perhaps the most puzzling part of his season to Cadeau. Practice usually translates to games, but not always, as he learned.

“I make shots all the time in practice, they just haven’t gone in in the games,” he said.

Yet, Cadeau is such a quality floor general missing shots wasn’t going to get him a seat on the bench, that was usually his defense, which ranged from in-need-of-improving to solid. He worked it, but the adjustment to all elements of playing defense were easily the most demanding transition for the 6-foot New Jersey native.

“Definitely defense,” he acknowledged, when asked what was the biggest adjustment as a freshman. “It’s just way more challenging defensively. You can’t really relax. There’s a bunch of actions off the ball. Off the ball defense is way different in high school… Here, if your man doesn’t have the ball, you have to play even more defense.”

Yet, the positives outweighed the in-the-learning-process aspects to Cadeau’s game. He led the Tar Heels with 4.1 assists per contest against 1.8 turnovers per contest, an impressive ratio for a rookie.

He was third on the team with 29 steals, shot 48.1% inside the arc, and averaged 7.3 points and 2.2 rebounds, in 23.9 minutes. A big part of his success scoring when going to the rim was what Cadeau added to his bag once in the lane. Floaters and runners became more of a thing as the season went on, and with it came increased confidence.

“He’s elite in terms of being able to get to the basket, he just is. It doesn’t matter what kind of defense,” said Davis. "His ability to get to the paint, be able to score (and) distribute is at a high level.”

And, the value of experience aided Cadeau as a driver and occasional jump shooter.

“I’m figuring out how to get my shots within the play style without forcing anything,” he said.

As Cadeau gets stronger over the remainder of the offseason, continues working on his perimeter shot, and improves in all aspects of playing defense, there are some absolutes about his game the other Heels appreciate.

“He does a great job of setting people up, and he does a great job of being aggressive down in the lane and finishing with contact,” ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis said. “He’s a special player and a special talent.”

The second half of the Alabama remains a sour topic to many Carolina fans, but it was just one small part of a season in which the young man with the keys to the team experienced. Elliot Cadeau learned a ton as a freshman, more than what showed in his play. That should supersede how things ended, and makes a possibly leap into his sophomore campaign quite realistic.

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