Pitt’s Jeff Capel preaches the value of talk to his players
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The first question Jeff Capel asks himself when he’s recruiting players — from high school or the transfer portal — is this:
Can he play? Can he run, jump, pass, shoot and defend well enough to keep pace with other athletically gifted players in the ACC?
After he is satisfied on that level, he looks deeper. Does the player know the game? Can he communicate his thoughts in real time, with players racing past him, grabbing at the basketball while fans are creating a horrible din around him?
Put simply, players must be able to talk on the court. And when Pitt (5-3) visits N.C. State (7-1) on Friday night to open the ACC schedule for both teams, Capel said his players’ talk amongst themselves must be at “an elite level.”
“Good talk is not good enough,” he said.
The Wolfpack are leading the ACC and are 33rd in the nation in scoring (83 points per game). So Capel’s players better know where to station themselves on defense. Talk helps that happen, he said.
You don’t have to watch a basketball game closely to see players at all levels constantly huddling up for a few seconds during a dead ball. Or shouting at one another while the opponent is walking — even running — the ball up court.
What are they talking about? Almost anything that comes to mind pertaining to the game.
“You’re talking defense,” Capel said. “What that means is ‘I got your help on baseline, in the middle, screen coming, switch, whatever it is.’ You’re constantly doing that.
“Offensively, you’re echoing commands. You’re helping guys. You’re commanding guys. You’re telling them to get to a spot. If you can get to where you’re elite at it, that means your team is going to be really good.”
Capel said basketball is different from baseball and football, for example. In basketball, there is no catcher walking (slowly) to the mound to talk to the pitcher. In football, there are 40-second breaks between plays when players can huddle.
“Our thing is like this — it’s in real time,” Capel said, snapping his fingers. “If there’s a problem, you have to fix the problem right away.”
Talk has practical value in helping get to the right defense and preventing the opponent from scoring. But it also can help in ways fans can’t see.
“It gets you from not thinking about you,” Capel said. “In a team sport, one of the worst things a guy can do, in my opinion, is get inward. Because then, you’re just worried about you.
“When you’re that way, you’re normally going to be a little bit slower. You’re not going to be as instinctive as you need to be. When you’re talking, you get outside of your own head.
“When you’re talking on the court and you’re talking to your team, that means, in my opinion, you’re really deep into the game and you’re focused on winning, period.”
For example, Capel said, talk brings the game into clearer focus and, suddenly, you forget about being tired.
While playing for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, Capel said he learned the value of talk, “If I wanted to get on the court.”
“If you’re at the end of your four-minute segment, if you’re talking, you’re not thinking about being tired — if you are constantly consumed with winning and trying to make winning plays.
“I think Virginia is that. That’s why its defense, year-in and year-out, is so good, unbelievably connected. Kansas won the national championship, and they’re that way. That’s what we aspire to be.”
Capel said he is building a team of talkers, with starters such as Blake Hinson, Greg Elliott and Jamarius Burton.
“Nike (Sibande) has become that way over the past four games,” Capel said. “Nelly (Cummings) is learning how to do that at a higher level.”
If that sounds like a lot of talk, that’s OK.
“It’s a lot more than we had,” he said.