The rising rookie point guard for North Carolina, Elliot Cadeau, will have the opportunity on Saturday to accomplish something that hasn’t been done by a player in his position at UNC in nearly a decade. There is a unique type of pressure that surrounds individuals in his position because of its stature in the sport, even though no one else at UNC has done it in that time.
Playing point guard for UNC is like to playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys or centre field for the Yankees. In addition to all that naturally comes with the job, there are additional considerations because of the Tar Heels’ legacy, history, and standing in the league. And Cadeau has managed it all with a cool deftness for the most of this season.
A crucial quality for any player, but particularly for one who frequently manages the ball and the offence, is that he doesn’t rattle. His passing talent and vision have lived up to the hype, if not exceeded it. Additionally, Cadeau has recently demonstrated a liking for scoring points and has occasionally shown himself to be a capable substitute for RJ Davis, the very productive senior guard for UNC. The Tar Heels’ victory over Miami earlier this month, 75–72, was the most recent instance of that. Like many teams in the second half of the season, the Hurricanes tried to contain Davis and challenged Cadeau to make shots. He did, and he scored a season-high 19 points in the process. He made his first 3-pointer since December 29 against Miami.
After that, he made one more, giving Cadeau his first multi-point performance of the year. Later, he softly discussed the toll his general shooting problems had placed on his confidence. Prior to this, he had missed his first 11 3-point attempts and had frequently been too shy to try perimeter shots. He had observed his defences crumbling away from him, tempting him to fire. He had also seen his hesitancy. The head coach of UNC, Hubert Davis, made an effort to foster faith. “He just tells me to shoot it every time if I’m open,” Cadeau remarked following that Miami victory. “And he wants me to believe in myself enough to take it down.”
Given how hard it is for UNC (as it is for everyone) to score against Virginia, any shot-making or scoring that Cadeau can bring on Saturday would be a plus. Since 2012, when Kendall Marshall was the team’s point guard, the Tar Heels have not triumphed there while playing on the road. Considering the parallels Cadeau has made to Marshall this season, maybe that’s a good one. Cadeau shares Marshall’s advantageous vision on the court, especially his ability to spot passing lanes that others overlook. Similar to Marshall, Cadeau has demonstrated his ability to make the challenging or even remarkable pass.
And now, like Marshall and every other UNC point guard before him over the past decade-plus, Cadeau has inherited the daunting task of trying to lead the Tar Heels’ up-tempo offense, built on the fast break and secondary break and pushing the pace, against a Virginia team that aspires to do the exact opposite.
If there’s one overarching, straightforward theme to UNC’s ten-year losing skid against Virginia, it’s this: the Cavaliers, as they often do, have done a far better job of establishing their preferred style while undermining UNC’s. That is the way it has consistently happened. once more. once more. Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, Marshall, and other players led the last UNC team to triumph in Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena. Roy Williams had been UNC’s head coach for eighteen years, and he was just halfway through. Only a few weeks separated Tony Bennett from his first NCAA Tournament experience as Virginia’s head coach, in his third season on the job.
On Saturday, it will be precisely twelve years to the day since UNC’s 54-51 triumph in Charlottesville on February 25, 2012. It will be 4,382 days after the Tar Heels last triumphed there when the teams square off. Eight games in a row have been lost at Virginia, with UNC finding the same frustrating outcome in the majority of them.
In other words, they have typically been slow, methodical, defensive, and plodding events. Just Bennett’s preference. (And how Williams, in particular, detested before retiring.) UNC has only once surpassed the 70-point threshold in its current eight-game road losing streak in the series. It has twice received 60 points. It hasn’t even reached 50 points four times.
When these teams play on Saturday, the intrigue and main conflict will remain the same, or at least the same as they have since Bennett joined Virginia in 2009. Tar Heels fans will want to play quickly. The Cavs will wish to take the opposing action. Players come and go, rosters change, and the transfer portal gives and takes, but at least certain things never change.
As far as adjusted tempo goes, the Tar Heels are ranked 39th in the country by kenpom.com, which essentially keeps track of how many possessions a team has during a game. Conversely, Virginia is not just one of the slowest teams in the nation, but the slowest overall. 362 Division I collegiate basketball teams exist. Virginia is ranked 362nd in adjusted tempo by kenpom.com. Furthermore, kenpom.com reports that just two teams nationwide make opposing offences spend more than 19 seconds every possession. Marquette is among them. The other is Virginia. So, UNC’s issue on this trip to Charlottesville is the same as it is every time: how can it expedite without sacrificing effectiveness? How can it get past one of the strongest defences in the country?
A slew of excellent UNC point guards have come and gone, leaving John Paul Jones with a painful, humiliating defeat. Marcus Paige is familiar with it. Joel Berry concurs as well. Moreover, Coby White. in addition to RJ Davis. Now, Cadeau has the opportunity to try to buck a pattern that has persisted since he was in elementary school. That might be the hardest task he has ever faced.
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