UNC’s 2024 recruiting class just go significantly weaker and that’s a good thing

Brendan Marks from The Athletic at Brendan R. Marks on Twitter covers the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils. Before we get into the reclassification of Elliott Cadeau.

I hope I pronounced his name right, but I'm not sure since I don't really follow recruiting. What are your thoughts on Pippen calling Jordan a horrible player pre-Pippen? I wish that Michael could have heard him because that reaction is one that I feel like I desperately need in my life. I mean that just because I get being a horrible teammate. I get that right because you could you could make that argument about Jordan, especially early on you can make that argument about guys like Kobe, but holy cow horrible player.

I don't think you could play for Dean Smith for three years and ever be a horrible player. Yeah, it's a it's a hysterical line from Pippen especially. I wonder I wonder if that's what his line would have been, you know, if we had asked him 15 years ago instead of now. Yeah, Scotty is quite bitter.

I said this before in my opinion the narrative coming after that really is about Scotty. Why are you so bitter not hey, maybe he's right because there isn't anybody who would call Michael Jordan a horrible player at any level. Alright, let me get to what Elliot Cadeau's reclassification and people are just joining in and we're talking with Brendan R. Marks from The Athletic part of the 2024 recruiting class according to ESPN's recruiting rankings. He was 10th. He was a second best point guard, but he's a five-star recruit reclassifying from 2024 to 2023, which means he'll be on campus sometime in the summer and he'll be part of this upcoming team. First of all your thoughts on just that news and what it means for him and the program.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, I think just from a sheer talent perspective. It's never a bad idea to add more of it and certainly he's a really good player. I mean, he's there's a reason that he was a five-star guy. There's a reason he was a top 10 guy.

I had a chance to see him in person a couple of weeks ago back at the first EYBL session of the year and I mean UNC fans. I'm sure have heard this by now, but the dude is going to be the best passer the program has had Kendall Marshall. His vision is that special and so obviously adding somebody who has that gift is going to help the team. I do think that it's a gamble.

I do think that you know for a number of reasons, you know saying that this is ironclad and it's a hundred percent going to work for everybody is probably a bit of an ambitious take on the adjustment. But you know from a sheer talent perspective the guy is going to come in. He's going to start from day one and North Carolina's offense just got a lot better by having him. Brendan marks from the athletic is joining us here on the Adam Gold show.

All right. So last year and the year before when Carolina started their run RJ Davis was the point guard. What is this mean for RJ? Yeah, I think that is you know, one of the reasons why before this move happened there was some there was some chatter that it might not ever come to fruition because from everything that I had heard since the season ended and everything that it sounded like, you know Hubert Davis and his staff.

I told folks with Caleb love entering transfer portal. They were committing to RJ Davis as point guard of the future and obviously Caleb and RJ had split those responsibilities the last three years as you mentioned during the run to the National Championship game in 2022 RJ took control of the offense averaged about six and a half assists a game during that postseason run and you know really looked like sort of the true natural North Carolina style point guard that I think so many of us are familiar with seeing obviously this changes things and you know right now Elliot is probably better with the ball in his hands and he is without it. I don't know that, you know, especially with his size.

He's about six 170 pounds. I don't know that he has the size of the skill set to play off ball. So almost out of necessity you are with Elliot kiddo coming in you are moving RJ Davis into more of that hybrid combo spot kind of like what he's occupied the last few years where he's going to be sharing those duties with another ball handler. I do think there's still going to be plenty of opportunity for RJ Davis to be the point guard and there should be last year. He was most efficient in terms of his offense as a pick and roll ball handler.

You obviously don't want to take that away. But certainly this does sort of shift him into a new role and on the defensive side of things. It means that North Carolina is now going to most likely start two guards who are both under six foot one which at the ACC level could cause some problems that is true that on the defensive end of the court. We always focus on offense and the defensive end of the court could end up being a problem, but I think you were just kind of getting there and that there's going to be opportunities for RJ to create his own offense off the dribble and he is good. I think he I mean, I think he has proven to be just a good catch-and-shoot guy.

I don't know what the what the data, you know spits out on, you know spot-up shooting but he's a good shooter. And I think if if Cadeau is as good a passer as his reputation says then he'll find, you know, RJ in good spots. What does it mean though for a guy like Simeon Wilcher who was a point guard and a pretty good recruit coming in in this class was he obviously is not necessarily at the same level as Cadeau unless unless I'm completely missing something.

What does it mean for him? Yeah, and I think it's a question that you could also ask to a different extent about Seth Trimble right now. You've got you know, the guard room is crowded and realistically just based on Hubert Davis's history the last two years.

It doesn't seem likely that all of those guys are really going to get a spot in the rotation. So, you know, I think Cadeau and RJ Davis are clearly the top two guys here and like the other thing is everyone wants to talk about how bad a shooting team North Carolina was last year. That was also the fewest assist that any UNC team had ever had to so you're bringing in a guy who is absolutely going to spur that he's going to facilitate it. But certainly he's going to play a lot of minutes and RJ Davis is going to play a lot of minutes.

And so behind them said Trimble Simeon Wilcher. Their roles are shifting with this move as well. And so, you know, I think for Simeon he I think has the benefit of being a little bit bigger. He's about six four six five has played on and off the ball in high school kind of like Caleb love in theory could do either one.

I think that you probably have a better chance of getting into the lineup for him if he is operating off the ball. Because there are just so many guys who need the ball in their hand now, you know, even if RJ Davis and Cadeau are off the court, you know, Seth Trimble as we saw last year is not really a guy who is ready to play without the ball in his hands yet. And so yes, certainly this changes things for them.

And you know, I think coming in the assumption at least from the Cadeau side of things is that he's probably going to be a one and done but we don't know how those things materialize. And if it doesn't then you're talking about a real that court backlog because you got more guards coming in the next year. So it certainly, you know, has ripple effects down the lineup, but I don't see a way just based on Huber Davis's history that all of these guards are going to have serious roles next year. Yeah, there's an offshoot conversation about the way Hubert Davis did or did not use his bench.

Brendan Marks from the Athletic covers the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. Here's a question that kind of popped into my head. What was the impetus for the reclassification? Was this purely the player deciding I'm good enough to play now and then I want to get to the NBA quicker? Or was this UNC reaching out and said, hey, we could use you now.

We think you're good enough. It's both. A hundred percent both.

This is absolutely something driven by both sides. And from the Cadeau side of things, quite frankly, there's nothing left for this kid to prove at the high school level. He's he's won the Geico Nationals right now in the EYBL circuit. He's he's leading EYBL and assists.

He's averaging, you know, 15 and a half points and almost 10 assists a game like he looks like he's toying with people. And on the other side of things, he's going to be 19 by the time next season starts. So he is a little bit on the older side. And by coming in earlier, you have a 19 year old freshman instead of a 20 year old freshman. And in terms of his specific draft outlook, he would now be eligible to be a 20 year old rookie instead of a 21 year old rookie if he goes one and done.

So certainly it made sense on his side of things. But also, look, UNC still has scholarships open. It still needs to add talent. And you've got a guy who is sitting there who has the desire, who has proven he probably has the capability and he's willing to come in.

And it fits. So, you know, one thing that I think is interesting here is since this news came out, I've heard a lot of people, even in the weeks leading up to it, mentioned to me, OK, well, if Marcus Page and Joel Berry could play together, then R.J. Davis can play together. Well, look at that. Isn't it funny that one of those guys is going to be on the staff now and can probably offer a few pointers?

So I think that that is another helpful note to put into this whole situation. Very good point made by Brendan Marks from The Athletic at Brendan R. Marks on Twitter. And final thing back to the Hubert Davis angle, because if you don't play guys, especially your own recruits, then they have a tendency, especially in this day and age, to with an eye on where, where, where can I go to play? Does this continue a cycle of players that Davis recruited walking out the door? Well, I think that every year they're going to be transfers.

You know, it's very rare to have programs nowadays that do not. You know, Duke was, I think, one of five Division one teams and the only high major team in the country not to have a single player into the transfer portal. So there are going to be transfers on a year in, year out basis. It's just the way things are done now. Players have more movement. They have more options and they should be allowed to do that, I think.

Um, that's my opinion, but in doing that, yes, it's, it's part of the problem. You don't want to have eight guys leaving every year. And so you look at where North Carolina's roster is now going into next year. And while in theory, yes, could this potentially spur someone like a Trimble or a Wilcher to enter the portal next year, potentially depending on how their roles shake out, but you also have a lot of guys who are going to be gone next year. Armando Baker is going to be gone after the season. RJ Davis is probably going to be gone after the season. Cormac Ryan is going to be gone after the season action. Wojciech is going to be gone after the season. Caddo might be gone at like, there's going to be a lot of turnover and a lot of big roles specifically, you know, multiple starting roles that are being vacated. So while yes, I understand that it could push some out the door and there is some natural give and take in the transfer portal these days at the same time. There's a lot of guys who are about to walk out that door next season, even with Caddo coming in that doesn't change the picture that they're going to be minutes and points and big opportunities still up for grabs. And of course, the initial point was the team is better. And that is the most important thing.

Brandon Marks. All right, we'll talk to you again soon, my friend. I appreciate your time. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. You got it.