Elliot Cadeau was born in Brooklyn, however he doesn’t have any recollections of residing within the borough. When he was 3 months outdated, his dad and mom packed up their possessions, strapped him into his automobile seat and decamped to New Jersey.
Rising up in West Orange, Cadeau turned a Jets fan. His mom, who’s from Sweden, and his father, who’s from Haiti, had a tough time understanding the recognition of American skilled soccer, however they indulged their son’s obsession — to a degree. He was allowed to color his room within the Jets’ colours of inexperienced and white, however he wasn’t allowed to play the game. His mom thought it will be too harmful. As an alternative, she instructed that her 7-year-old son check out for a basketball workforce.
Ten years later, Cadeau is a star at Bergen Catholic Excessive Faculty and a top-10 recruit within the class of 2024. And he’s a part of an elite group of New Jersey highschool basketball gamers who could also be among the many finest contingent of expertise the state has ever produced.
Along with Cadeau — the No. 7 participant within the nation, in keeping with the composite rankings of the recruiting web site 247 Sports activities — the sophomore class contains: No. 1 Naasir Cunningham (Extra time Elite), No. 33 Dylan Harper (Don Bosco Prep) and No. 42 Tahaad Pettiford (Hudson Catholic). And the juniors a yr forward of Cadeau & Co. embody: No. 1 Dajuan Wagner Jr., who goes by DJ (Camden Excessive Faculty), No. 3 Mackenzie Mgbako (Gill St. Bernard’s), No. 12 Simeon Wilcher (Roselle Catholic), No. 20 Aaron Bradshaw (Camden) and No. 48 Akil Watson (Roselle Catholic).
“It’s been a good time to develop up enjoying basketball in New Jersey,” Cadeau stated. “The competitors and friendship amongst elite gamers right here is in contrast to wherever else. I don’t really feel like there’s one other state proper now that may compete with New Jersey when it comes to basketball expertise.”
Though New Jersey was dwelling to among the sport’s all-time greats — together with Shaquille O’Neal and Rick Barry — traditionally it has struggled to flee New York’s basketball shadow. Within the N.B.A.’s 76 years, 419 gamers have hailed from New York, in comparison with simply 146 from New Jersey, in keeping with Basketball Reference. And on the rosters for the 2021-22 season, the disparity was simply as sharp: There have been 33 New Yorkers in comparison with simply 12 New Jerseyites. However within the lessons of 2023 and 2024, New Jersey has 10 top-50 recruits in comparison with simply two from New York.
“I don’t need to disrespect anyone,” stated Billy Armstrong, who graduated from Bergen Catholic in 1994 and now coaches Cadeau. “However after I performed right here, the expertise wasn’t almost on the stage it’s now, that’s for certain. That is my eleventh yr as varsity coach, and I can say that within the final 4 or 5 years, the expertise has actually taken off. There’s this satisfaction right here when New Jersey is within the dialog as one of the best basketball state in your entire nation.”
Armstrong additionally performed collegiate basketball at Davidson and professionally abroad. He pointed to the tenacity and toughness it takes to stay in main metropolitan areas within the Northeast as a part of the explanation a lot expertise has emerged in his dwelling state. He additionally thinks there’s a momentum impact in play. Gamers like Karl-Anthony Cities and Kyrie Irving have given youngsters rising up within the Backyard State some New Jersey-born stars to look as much as. And people younger gamers have competed in opposition to one another for years, strengthening one another’s video games and serving to them get seen by recruiting companies and school coaches.
Since 247’s first rankings had been launched a yr and a half in the past, DJ Wagner has been thought of the No. 1 participant within the Class of 2023. The son of the previous N.B.A. participant Dajuan Wagner, DJ is a extremely expert combo guard. His sport, and the eye round his recruiting, has given his teammates a leg up. Bradshaw, who performs with Wagner at Camden and on their Beginner Athletic Union workforce, the New Jersey Students, began off as a 3-star recruit. He’s now a 5-star, with provides from blue chip applications like Kentucky, Michigan and U.C.L.A.
“These youngsters have been enjoying with and in opposition to one another for a very long time,” Students Coach Jason Harrigan stated. “And while you get a very particular child in a category — a child like DJ — his competitiveness rubs off on everybody. He helps increase the extent of play for your entire class, and so they assist him to raise his sport, too.”
The expertise stage, mixed with the current rest of guidelines that enable school and highschool athletes to earn sponsorship cash, has led to distinctive alternatives for a lot of gamers within the state. Cadeau, who has twin citizenship and performs for the Swedish nationwide workforce, is represented by Roc Nation and already has a five-figure endorsement by what is called a reputation, picture and likeness deal, or N.I.L. And Cunningham, the No. 1 participant in 2024, lately signed with Extra time Elite, a prestigious professional-development program in Atlanta. He turned the primary participant to signal with this system with out taking a wage, preserving his collegiate eligibility.
“Rising up in New Jersey, each child is dreaming of attending to the professionals,” Cunningham stated. “Once I was little, I didn’t even know what school basketball was. I used to be simply pondering N.B.A., N.B.A., N.B.A. However as I bought older, I began pondering extra about going to school. With OTE, I get professional coaching and schooling, and I get to maintain my choices open. Plus, I can nonetheless become profitable with N.I.L.”
New Jersey’s coaches, in fact, favor that gamers stay near dwelling. And so they say that N.I.L. helps them persuade gamers to remain at their highschool for all 4 years.
“These gamers take satisfaction in New Jersey,” stated Dave Boff, who coaches Wilcher and Watson at Roselle Catholic. “The followers sit up for having a participant who rises the ranks from his freshman to his senior seasons. And the gamers get to benefit from the alternatives their expertise affords whereas nonetheless with the ability to sleep in their very own mattress.”
When he talks to school coaches about what makes this crop of New Jersey basketball prospects so coveted, Boff persistently hears one theme: toughness.
“The faculty coaches see that New Jersey guys trust, they’ve swagger, and so they aren’t afraid of bodily basketball,” Boff stated. “After we journey to nationwide video games, our gamers are all the time stunned by the ticky-tack foul calls. In New Jersey, the refs let our guys beat one another up somewhat bit, and our guys welcome that. They know they’re making one another higher.”
For Cunningham, leaving dwelling wasn’t a simple resolution, however he hopes to make it somewhat simpler by recruiting another gamers from New Jersey to hitch him in Atlanta. In spite of everything, each one in all these gamers hopes to leap to an even bigger stage — be it school basketball or OTE or the N.B.A. — eventually.
“Jersey is taking up,” Cunningham stated. “In every single place you look in New Jersey, there’s a high-level basketball participant. And shortly, we’re going to be everywhere in the nation. For us, it’s about displaying what our state is all about and ensuring it continues the success into the longer term. It’s not strain. It’s motivation.”
