...and this is not meant to step on @FlaTarHeel 's excellent thread --- he's got some great resource links posted, BTW --- these are just some up-close-and-personal observations to go along with it:
- As you may know, this is the frst evaluation week with full-tilt AAU in session --- Under Armour in AZ, Adidas in Omaha, and Nike EYBL down here in ATL. Anyway... I had stepped away from live events since COVID, so it was good to be back in the atmosphere. The new Lakepoint facility (north of town) beats the hell outta the other ATL facilities in past events --- more courts, more open viewing, easier to get back and forth.
- one of the coolest features was that, even though they had some reserved chairs at the ends of the courts if they chose, coaches weren't as segregated, and many chose to watch along side everyone else. Since most everyone there was part of the hoops world, HCs could hang out without being button-holed by fans, but some HCs readily mingled --- Forbes from Wake was quite gregarious, as was Juwan Howard (pretty much the oppposite of his court demeanor
).
- speaking of coaches, there was some speculation on various sites that, due to Portal priorities, there wouldn't be as many coaches out for the shoe tourneys this year. Yeah well.... so much for that... I lost count at 26 HCs just here in ATL I knew by name (and several more by face). We walked in during mostly age-group games but first guys we see are a Big-10 contingent of Howard, Fran McCaffery (Iowa) and Holtman from OSU. Pearl from Auburn prolly got around to more younger age-group games than anyone --- say what you will, he works his ass off in cruitin'. And hell, once the EYBL games cranked back up, from the ACC alone I saw Forbes, Sheyer (and his dookie entourage), Tony, Capel, Jimmy Laranaga, Keatts and Payne.
- good reason for the conflageration of coaches --- we staked out an early corner-court-side spot for Cadeau's 3:30 game (pretty much right next to their bench) on Court 4, that also enabled taking a few steps back to catch Brown vs Fland on Court 2 -- schweet! With Hubert and Jeff in Omaha, Sean and Brad repped UNC in ATL, trading off between these two games that sucked the proverbial air outta the building . With all the HCs present, It was funny to overhear conversations courtside to the gist of "Carolina's got their guys so they can just sit back and enjoy", etc...
- As for Brown's game (Mokan), he was solid, but they have a lot of size to go around. Boogie (PSA) lit it up, but my first time seeing him live confirmed what I'd seen on video --- he's more Combo than Point. It's interesting that this game was the first time our staff watched him down here. Not sure what that means, if anything... if Cadeau comes out one would think we'd still be recruiting Fland for 24...
- Now..... to the main event. First, I had heard that Cadeau had basically recruited an AAU juggernaut to win Peach Jam. Well, lemme tell ya, that's no lie. NH Lightning may be top-to-bottom the most talented team I've ever seen --- like the damn '98 Yankees of AAU. Hell, they could prolly finish .500 in the ACC right now. They absolutely destroyed a very good GA Stars team, all the while making line changes. BUT... here's the thing: that is Cadeau's team. He is THE man and the rest of them know it. Folks, our guy was flat off the charts!
- so, funny anecdote: We're watching standing next to Jeff Capel (of all people), and It was my bud's first look at Cadeau (other than part of a HS game on TV), and he was blown away and at one point he sez to me (loudly) "you can sure see why all these studs want to play with him --- he makes everybody better" --- anyway, Capel overhears him and turns and looks at us with this (rather sour) expression of grudging acknowledgement as we nodded simultaneously.
- there was ample reason for grizzled basketball folks to be blown away. I imagine everyone here knows how tough I am on PGs. Yeah, well... there is no overstating just how special this kid is. Our friend @Geth said it exactly right --- Cadeau is generational good. Look, I've watched literally hours of his vid and TV games, but from my vantage point yesterday?... just wow! Both team's were going full-tilt transition and especially when he was coming at us, we had the on-court perspective and as an ol' coach/PG myself, I'm scanning the running lanes to anticipate where he was going with the rock... and guys? I'm still SMH at a few of those. Just an example: he grabs an outlet inside the far FT line and snaps an arched two-handed 3/4 court chest pass right at us --- with 3 defenders already back in decent shape, no less --- so in the split second I scan for the only feasible target, and it's a teammate who had just started his cut from his wide lane next to the friggin coach's box, and sure enough, it hits the guy in the hands in stride on a post-pattern for a dunk.
- what I'm telling y'all here is there was likely north of $100 mil in coaching salaries watching that game, along with other veterans of the scene --- had this been at an And-1 tour game, fans would've been falling out --- but even here, there were multiple folks looking at each other with "oh-no-he-didn't" expressions on more than one play. Hell, I even said out loud on one. "no way in hell he saw that" on a pass look. On one break he put extra mustard on the hot dog with a legit Pete Maravich (and I say that reverently) no-look reverse-wrist-snap in traffic.
- Look, he can play "loose" at this level, and of course will hafta tighten some things up in college, but this kid is ready NOW. After 3 possessions Brad could barely contain a sh**-eating grin, and for good reason. Just like the first time I saw Joel Berry in AAU, that's really all it took to know there's legit PG running things. EC has Joel's floor-control with Ed Cota's passing creativity. To put it in Marvel terms,. It was like Tony Stark loaned him an Iron Man helmet with Jarvis vectoring targets on a virtual display.
- Oh, and for the doubters, his backcourt running mate on NH Lightning is Bruce's 5* PG recruit (Petiford), who's smaller than Cadeau (who I can verify is a legit 6'1). However, like a certain returning UNC Guard. Petiford sees basket first and wisely is more than content to let Cadeau run the show --- and benefits by averaging better than 20pts/game (hint, hint).
- Finally, my bud had to bolt before Powell's game but I caught it on live stream. Our friend @Tarheel75 has been raving about his development, and man, he ain't kidding. Jackson is an exciting recruit for sure... but Powell is a straight-up beast!
Anyway, I can't speak for his intentions, but much of our portal recruiting makes no sense unless Cadeau is coming this season, and if he does, this is a NO-BRAINER --- GIVE HIM THE DAMNED BALL AND THE KEYS. No ifs, ands or buts. Then drill Carolina transition in camp til tongues hang out... done and done.
- As you may know, this is the frst evaluation week with full-tilt AAU in session --- Under Armour in AZ, Adidas in Omaha, and Nike EYBL down here in ATL. Anyway... I had stepped away from live events since COVID, so it was good to be back in the atmosphere. The new Lakepoint facility (north of town) beats the hell outta the other ATL facilities in past events --- more courts, more open viewing, easier to get back and forth.
- one of the coolest features was that, even though they had some reserved chairs at the ends of the courts if they chose, coaches weren't as segregated, and many chose to watch along side everyone else. Since most everyone there was part of the hoops world, HCs could hang out without being button-holed by fans, but some HCs readily mingled --- Forbes from Wake was quite gregarious, as was Juwan Howard (pretty much the oppposite of his court demeanor
).- speaking of coaches, there was some speculation on various sites that, due to Portal priorities, there wouldn't be as many coaches out for the shoe tourneys this year. Yeah well.... so much for that
... I lost count at 26 HCs just here in ATL I knew by name (and several more by face). We walked in during mostly age-group games but first guys we see are a Big-10 contingent of Howard, Fran McCaffery (Iowa) and Holtman from OSU. Pearl from Auburn prolly got around to more younger age-group games than anyone --- say what you will, he works his ass off in cruitin'. And hell, once the EYBL games cranked back up, from the ACC alone I saw Forbes, Sheyer (and his dookie entourage), Tony, Capel, Jimmy Laranaga, Keatts and Payne.- good reason for the conflageration of coaches --- we staked out an early corner-court-side spot for Cadeau's 3:30 game (pretty much right next to their bench) on Court 4, that also enabled taking a few steps back to catch Brown vs Fland on Court 2 -- schweet! With Hubert and Jeff in Omaha, Sean and Brad repped UNC in ATL, trading off between these two games that sucked the proverbial air outta the building . With all the HCs present, It was funny to overhear conversations courtside to the gist of "Carolina's got their guys so they can just sit back and enjoy", etc...
- As for Brown's game (Mokan), he was solid, but they have a lot of size to go around. Boogie (PSA) lit it up, but my first time seeing him live confirmed what I'd seen on video --- he's more Combo than Point. It's interesting that this game was the first time our staff watched him down here. Not sure what that means, if anything... if Cadeau comes out one would think we'd still be recruiting Fland for 24...
- Now..... to the main event. First, I had heard that Cadeau had basically recruited an AAU juggernaut to win Peach Jam. Well, lemme tell ya, that's no lie. NH Lightning may be top-to-bottom the most talented team I've ever seen --- like the damn '98 Yankees of AAU. Hell, they could prolly finish .500 in the ACC right now. They absolutely destroyed a very good GA Stars team, all the while making line changes. BUT... here's the thing: that is Cadeau's team. He is THE man and the rest of them know it. Folks, our guy was flat off the charts!
- so, funny anecdote: We're watching standing next to Jeff Capel (of all people), and It was my bud's first look at Cadeau (other than part of a HS game on TV), and he was blown away and at one point he sez to me (loudly) "you can sure see why all these studs want to play with him --- he makes everybody better" --- anyway, Capel overhears him and turns and looks at us with this (rather sour) expression of grudging acknowledgement as we nodded simultaneously.
- there was ample reason for grizzled basketball folks to be blown away. I imagine everyone here knows how tough I am on PGs. Yeah, well... there is no overstating just how special this kid is. Our friend @Geth said it exactly right --- Cadeau is generational good. Look, I've watched literally hours of his vid and TV games, but from my vantage point yesterday?... just wow! Both team's were going full-tilt transition and especially when he was coming at us, we had the on-court perspective and as an ol' coach/PG myself, I'm scanning the running lanes to anticipate where he was going with the rock... and guys? I'm still SMH at a few of those. Just an example: he grabs an outlet inside the far FT line and snaps an arched two-handed 3/4 court chest pass right at us --- with 3 defenders already back in decent shape, no less --- so in the split second I scan for the only feasible target, and it's a teammate who had just started his cut from his wide lane next to the friggin coach's box, and sure enough, it hits the guy in the hands in stride on a post-pattern for a dunk.
- what I'm telling y'all here is there was likely north of $100 mil in coaching salaries watching that game, along with other veterans of the scene --- had this been at an And-1 tour game, fans would've been falling out --- but even here, there were multiple folks looking at each other with "oh-no-he-didn't" expressions on more than one play. Hell, I even said out loud on one. "no way in hell he saw that" on a pass look. On one break he put extra mustard on the hot dog with a legit Pete Maravich (and I say that reverently) no-look reverse-wrist-snap in traffic.
- Look, he can play "loose" at this level, and of course will hafta tighten some things up in college, but this kid is ready NOW. After 3 possessions Brad could barely contain a sh**-eating grin, and for good reason. Just like the first time I saw Joel Berry in AAU, that's really all it took to know there's legit PG running things. EC has Joel's floor-control with Ed Cota's passing creativity. To put it in Marvel terms,. It was like Tony Stark loaned him an Iron Man helmet with Jarvis vectoring targets on a virtual display.
- Oh, and for the doubters, his backcourt running mate on NH Lightning is Bruce's 5* PG recruit (Petiford), who's smaller than Cadeau (who I can verify is a legit 6'1). However, like a certain returning UNC Guard. Petiford sees basket first and wisely is more than content to let Cadeau run the show --- and benefits by averaging better than 20pts/game (hint, hint).
- Finally, my bud had to bolt before Powell's game but I caught it on live stream. Our friend @Tarheel75 has been raving about his development, and man, he ain't kidding. Jackson is an exciting recruit for sure... but Powell is a straight-up beast!
Anyway, I can't speak for his intentions, but much of our portal recruiting makes no sense unless Cadeau is coming this season, and if he does, this is a NO-BRAINER --- GIVE HIM THE DAMNED BALL AND THE KEYS. No ifs, ands or buts. Then drill Carolina transition in camp til tongues hang out... done and done.
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