Pitt’s Jeff Capel knows all too well about Duke’s legacy of freshman talent

Jeff Capel flipped through his earliest childhood basketball memories in response to a question posed to him Monday during the ACC coaches conference call:

What does Duke do to develop such outstanding freshman talent each year and provide a smooth transition from high school to near-instant stardom in the ACC?

The question came up the day before Capel and his Pitt players traveled to Durham, N.C., and a game Tuesday against No. 4 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

In Durham, Pitt (12-2, 3-0 ACC) will put its five-game winning streak to the test against Duke and its starting lineup of freshmen Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach. All three have started every game for the Blue Devils (12-2, 4-0).

Flag, the expected no. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, is averaging 17.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Knueppel scores 12.4 points and the 7-foot, 250-pound Maluach checks in with 7.9 points and 5.4 rebounds.

How have they found success so quickly?

“I think some of it is talent,” Capel said. “They get the best of the best, and they’ve done that since 1982 when Johnny Dawkins got there.”

Capel, who played for and coached under Mike Krzyzewski, said his boss was an underrated recruiter. More than that, Capel said Krzyzewski — and now current coach Jon Scheyer — know what to do with big players when they get them on campus.

“What Jon has done — and the same way Coach K did it — he’s allowed that talent to have freedom within that structure and allowed that talent to be unique. He’s encouraged them and created an environment where they can be unique .When you do, you have a chance to get something special.

“Coach (K) always used to say, ‘These guys are going to do things that make us coaches look good and make them look like we’re teaching them things when we really aren’t. They are just so good.’ ”

Capel said that freedom attracts other big players. Thus the cycle continues.

“They’ll follow in the footsteps of a Johnny Dawkins or Danny Ferry or (Christian) Laettner or (Bobby) Hurley or (Grant) Hill or (Elton) Brand or (Shane) Battier. I could go on. Now to Cooper. They’re coming probably more for next year.

“When you have such a unique talent, it requires unique coaching to be able to promote it. I hope they really appreciate what they have in Jon right now.”

Scheyer said he has coached freshmen every year at Duke, first as an assistant for nine seasons, then as head coach for the past 2 1/2.

“(The current group’s) maturity and their personalities at the same time has been as good as any group we’ve had,” he said. “They talk. They want to understand the game on a deep level. We put them in tough situations off the bat. They showed they weren’t afraid. They’re good competitors and they’re not about themselves.”

He said it also helps to have “confident upperclassmen … who aren’t about themselves.”

“For me, it has been a special group to coach.”

Capel was asked how he plans to slow Flagg, who scored 24 points Saturday in Duke’s 89-62 win at SMU.

“I don’t know if it’s possible, just because he’s so dynamic, there’s so many different areas,” he said.

Capel hadn’t seen much of Flagg, largely because Pitt’s coach sticks to extreme focus and rarely looks beyond the next game. But he said, “I’ve seen him a lot since Saturday night (after Pitt’s win against Stanford).

“He has a tough competition, an urgency. He’s a great rebounder. What I’ve been most impressed with is his passing. He has such a good feel as a basketball player on both ends. You just have to try to match his competitive spirit and try to make things difficult for him and hopefully he misses some (shots).

“Very rarely do you see, especially a young guy, a freshman who plays so hard and is so competitive on both sides of the ball. That’s rare on top of all the skill.”

While preparing for Duke, Capel found himself almost becoming a Flagg fan.

“It’s really amazing to watch on tape,” he said. “I don’t know how great it’s going to be to watch (Tuesday). As a basketball fan, you love to watch it.”