Over the summer and into the fall, Michigan and Michigan State basketball fans engaged in a ridiculous debate (imagine that). Michigan fans were touting their new point guard, Elliot Cadeau, from North Carolina, while Spartan fans were backing Jeremy Fears Jr.
The point guard vs. point guard debate seems to happen every single time the Wolverines get a new one, and it usually starts from their end, and Michigan State fans are left defending their guy.
It’s a tale as old as time: when one side has something nice, the other wants to replicate it, and eventually surpass it.
It happened with Zavier Simpson and Cassius Winston, and before that, it was Trey Burke and Keith Appling, and so forth. It makes sense, you want to be better than your rival at everything, so you put your credibility on the line to potentially defend your guy over the obvious choice.
Michigan fans had to know that Cassius was better than Simpson, but they remained stubborn and gave their guy the nod until Winston beat him three times in the span of a month. Looking back, that debate is about as ridiculous as they come, and there were some all-time cold takes from those days.
Now, we might be getting to the ice-cold stage of another debate.
Cadeau was Michigan fans’ shiny new toy in the offseason, and coming from North Carolina, they all expected him to be a star. He was solid with the Tar Heels, but was never anything more than a pass-first point guard who lacked a consistent scoring touch on offense.
Fears, on the other hand, was also a little inconsistent offensively, but he proved himself as an elite defender, leader, and passer. Yet, Michigan fans were confident that they had the better player.
A little over two weeks into the regular season, that debate already looks outdated. Cadeau has struggled mightily with consistency, averaging 8.8 points and 5.8 assists, but he’s only shooting 35.7% from the floor and averages 3.5 turnovers per game. And he has yet to face a ranked opponent, putting up these numbers against Oakland, Wake Forest, TCU, and Middle Tennessee.
On the other hand, Fears is averaging 10.3 points and a nation-leading 10.3 assists per game. He’s also one of the best defenders in the Big Ten, averaging a whopping 2.3 steals per game, and while he hasn’t really found his shooting touch yet (37 percent from the floor), he has an incredible assist-to-turnover ratio at almost 5-to-1.
It’s still early and a lot can change, but all the experts are saying that you can’t win championships with Cadeau leading your team, and every team needs a Fears.
Those offseason takes about Cadeau being better already feel ice-cold.