North Carolina basketball recruiting: Five-star guard Elliot Cadeau commits to Tar Heels over Texas, Kansas

The first commitment from a top-10 prospect in the 2024 class landed with a bang on Wednesday evening as five-star recruit Elliot Cadeau, the No. 8 overall player in the 247Sports rankings and the top-ranked point guard in the country, committed to North Carolina after a monthslong courtship. Cadeau chose UNC over a final six of Kansas, Syracuse, Texas Tech, Texas and Louisville. 

The Tar Heels were the crystal ball favorite leading into his decision after offering him a scholarship in the summer months and securing him for an official visit in early October. The Tar Heels and second-year coach Hubert Davis seem to have won him over with consistency and a simple recruiting pitch.

“I’ve known coach Davis for a long time and it was nice to meet his family at his house for breakfast,” he told 247Sports in October. “I also liked the live action they had. Their message is that they really want me and feel that they can develop me into a pro. They also said if I were to go come I would be a part of a winning organization.”

Louisville landed the last official visit from Cadeau at the end of October prior to his commitment Wednesday, but Texas Tech and UNC were also able to secure him on official visits in September and October, respectively, clouding the race a bit after he said during his process that Texas Tech as a kid was his “dream school.”

The services of Cadeau were in high demand both on the court and off it. Cadeau, who earned nearly 20 scholarship offers as a recruit (and counting), became the first American high school athlete earlier this year to ink and international NIL deal, according to NJ.com — a deal reportedly valued in the “high five figures.” Cadeau has played with the Swedish National Team on the FIBA circuit and his mother is Swedish.

A 6-foot-1, 165-pound point guard, Cadeau is the first top-10 player in the 2024 cycle to commit and just the third top-25 ranked player to commit in the cycle. The commitment gives UNC a second verbal commitment in the 2024 cycle to go with four-star Drake Powell, who committed to the program earlier this year.