In basketball, the relationship between the head coach and point guard may be one of the most critical in determining the success or failure of a program. Michigan head coach Dusty May had a great point guard and leader during his first year in Ann Arbor with Auburn transfer Tre Donaldson. Donaldson and May took the Wolverines from the basement of the Big Ten to the Sweet Sixteen and added a Big Ten Tournament trophy on top of that.
That success would usually be enough to bring a player back, hungry to go even further the next year, but college sports have changed. Turnover and transfers are the new thing, and nobody is immune to roster changes. Tre decided it was time for him to take his talents back to his home state and play for the Miami Hurricanes. May went into that very same portal and plucked North Carolina Tar Heels point guard Elliot Cadeau. For as great as Donaldson was, and for all the success he and May saw, Cadeau looks to be an immediate upgrade at the position.
The 2025-2026 Michigan basketball program is absolutely loaded with talent, size, and experience. They are an early favorite to push Purdue for the Big Ten title. Many national analysts have picked Michigan to end up in the Final Four and give them a real chance of being the last team standing next March. Having a capable point guard like Cadeau is going to dictate a lot of those goals and whether the Wolverines realize them or not. May did not skip a beat after losing Donaldson, and it looks like he may have improved the position.
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