Less than 24 hours after news broke of former North Carolina Tar Heel Elliot Cadeau transferring to Michigan, Tre Donaldson announced his plans to enter the portal and leave Ann Arbor. Donaldson, who started his college career at Auburn, spent one year at Michigan where he averaged 11.3 pts, 4.1 ast, and 3.5 reb per game. He served as the main ball handler in Dusty May’s offense and made several clutch plays to pull out wins in close games that the Wolverines often found themselves in.
After a loss in the Sweet 16 it seemed very likely that Donaldson would return, making this decision a big surprise, but the Cadeau news makes it easier to understand. Now the question is will Michigan be better off with a new man at the point guard position next season?
While both players are very skilled and talented point guards, other than playing fast, they go about the game in very different styles. Donaldson is a much better shooter and more of a scoring threat. While he was the main ball handler last season, the offense was run through the big man duo of Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf which opened up more scoring opportunities for Tre. Goldin is out of eligibility and Wolf will likely be going to the NBA meaning this team could look completely different, especially on the offensive end.
While Cadeau can score, he is not at the same level as Donaldson in that category. He is a much better facilitator though and is great at creating for others with the ball in his hands. Last season he ranked second in the ACC and 15th in the country in assists at 6.2 per game. This originally led me to believe that these two could share a backcourt putting Donaldson in more of a strictly scoring and spot up shooter role, but that now looks like something he was not interested in.
Another interesting note is turnovers which was a major issue for the Wolverines who were one of the worst teams in the country at taking care of the basketball. Cadeau averaged 3.1 turnovers per game last season (47th worst in CBB), which is a number you do not like to see from your point guard. Donaldson sat at 2.2 per game, but this an area he improved in as he got used to the fast paced style of play as the season went on.
In the end I am no coach and cannot tell you exactly what type of team Dusty May wants to build in his second year, but I would have been more than fine with keeping Donaldson if it meant Cadeau transferred elsewhere. The transfer portal has made roster turnover crazy in the college basketball world and retaining an experienced point guard on your team would be a major positive in my mind. Cadeau is still a very high level player with incredible upside, but Michigan still has a lot of work to do in the transfer portal to surround him with teammates that complement his abilities.