UNC commit Cadeau reclassifies to '23, eyes NBA

Elliot Cadeau, the No. 10 prospect in the 2024 ESPN 100 rankings, will graduate early from high school and enroll at North Carolina next week as a member of the 2023 recruiting class, he told ESPN on Tuesday.

He will now have the option to enter the 2024 NBA draft.

“I think I’m ready,” Cadeau said. “I think that I can play in college in a couple of months. There’s no reason to stay in high school, because I can hang with college players right now.”

Cadeau is coming off an outstanding season in which he proved to be arguably the best point guard in high school basketball, helping Link Academy win the Geico Nationals and then leading the Nike EYBL in assists by a wide margin (9.3 per game). He has guided his New Heights Lightning team to a 13-4 record, posting 29 points and 15 assists in what proved to be his final grassroots game Monday.

“Winning Geico was one of my biggest goals,” Cadeau said. “To do that as a junior pushed me to reclass for sure. Everything is coming easier for me now in the EYBL since this is my third year playing 17U.”

Cadeau, whose mother is Swedish, has garnered significant experience at the FIBA national team level, playing for Sweden’s U16, U18 and senior teams the past three summers, and playing against men in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers vs. Germany in February.

He says he will enroll at North Carolina on June 10 with other incoming freshmen and will focus on the Tar Heels full-time this summer. Cadeau says the UNC coaching staff told him it wants him on the roster and that he expects to play a “big role” this season.

“The ball will be in my hands a lot when I’m on the floor,” Cadeau said. “I will run the team as much as I can as a freshman and think I can really help the team win a lot of games.”

Cadeau said the option to enter the 2024 draft was a factor in his decision-making process.

“My goal was always to be one and done,” he said. “Reclassing doesn’t change that. It’s definitely my end goal — to be in the draft as soon as possible — but this takes pressure off me to be one and done and gives me the option of staying two years if needed.”

This marks the final roster transaction in what has been an eventful offseason for North Carolina, which was ranked the No. 1 team in the preseason but ultimately did not make the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels have seen nine players from last season’s roster depart and have quite a bit of uncertainty regarding the team hierarchy with many new faces, including other highly regarded incoming freshmen and additions from the transfer portal.

UNC returns starting point guard R.J. Davis and ACC Player of the Year candidate Armando Bacot at center, along with grad-transfer shooting guards Cormac Ryan (Notre Dame) and Paxson Wojcik (Brown), Stanford wing Harrison Ingram, and Louisville big man Jae’Lyn Withers. The Tar Heels also enroll two ESPN 100 freshmen in guard Simeon Wilcher and power forward Zayden High.