Dusty May believed in Elliot Cadeau, and the Michigan point guard is making his coach look smart

Dusty May believed in Elliot Cadeau, and the Michigan point guard is making his coach look smart originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . In an effort to convince Alabama’s Latrell Wrightsell it was pointless to present a full-capacity effort over the final four minutes of his team’s Sweet 16 game against Michigan, UM point guard Elliott Cadeau twice repeated, “It’s over” and offered a small, non-offensive gesture to affirm the message.

The Wolverines owned a double-digit lead at the time. They also featured the best player on the floor, forward Yaxel Lendeborg. So Cadeau’s statement seemed correct at the time, and turned out to be exactly so.

Michigan’s second-half rampage to a 90-77 victory , which advanced the team to the NCAA Midwest Region final Sunday at Chicago’s United Center, was sort of a statement game for Cadeau. His counterpart in this game was Tide All-American Labaron Philon Jr. , and though Philon scored a career-high 35 points in the game, Cadeau is Elite Eight-bound for the first time in his career because he’s playing like he never has before.

MARCH MADNESS HQ: Live NCAA bracket | TV schedule | Latest news and more At North Carolina as a freshman, he started against Alabama at this same stage of the tournament and lasted only 13 minutes before being benched. As a veteran last year with the Tar Heels, he was in charge of a squad that reached March Madness by the thinnest of margins, then lost their first-round game. When UM’s Dusty May chose to make Cadeau the point guard in his impressive recruiting class/transfer haul, there was cause to wonder if the coach had access to the internet: 9.