Elliot Cadeau returning to Michigan Wolverines basketball for 2026-27

Michigan basketball’s star point guard is coming back to Ann Arbor — officially.

Elliot Cadeau, Michigan's starting ball-handler in 2025-26 and the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four, withdrew his name from the 2026 NBA Draft and has cemented himself as a member of U-M’s 2026-27 squad.

This was long expected — Cadeau agreed to a new deal with the Wolverines in mid-April, and sources told the Free Press when he declared for the draft it was solely with the intention of gathering intel — but now it's a done deal.

Cadeau, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound facilitator, averaged 10.5 points and 5.9 assists per game in his first season with U-M after spending the first two campaigns of his career at North Carolina.

Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau reaches out to high-five fans as he walks in during a celebration honoring the Wolverines’ NCAA men’s basketball national championship at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 11, 2026.

While his 41.1% shooting percentage was the lowest of his career, his 3-point rate (37.6%) was the best of his three years. Cadeau scored in double figures in more than half of U-M's games (21) and had six games with double-digit assists, recording three double-doubles.

Cadeau, who will be a senior next season, tied a season high with 19 points in U-M's championship victory over UConn and averaged 12.3 points and 7.5 assists in six NCAA Tournament games. In the process, he showed he can lead a team to the highest levels of the sport even without a true backup. He played 30 minutes or more in nine of Michigan's final 11 games.

He will partner in the backcourt with Trey McKenney and will be supplemented in the backcourt by five-star freshman Brandon McCoy. According to 247Sports composite rankings, Michigan has the No. 1 incoming class in the nation when combining transfer portal and high school recruits.

Michigan is now just waiting on decisions from Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr., both of whom are consistently mocked well inside the first round of the NBA Draft and not expected to return to Ann Arbor.