Capel’s value as a recruiter, however, can’t be overstated. Since his joining the staff, Duke’s recruiting classes ranked No. 1 in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The Blue Devils also focused more on the elite one-and-done players Calipari has turned into four Final Four appearances and a national title in his nine years at Kentucky.
Duke won the 2015 title with freshmen starters Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones. This year’s team, led by the aforementioned rookies and senior guard Grayson Allen, finished second in the ACC and came up just short of the Final Four.
“Did this team burn Krzyzewski out on one-and-dones?” asks DeCock. “He may have decided he had to play zone. That doesn’t mean he liked doing it. Despite all the talent in next year’s class, Duke has no senior contributors to lead it. (Junior forward Javin DeLaurier looks like Duke’s most promising leadership candidate.) If you start over every year, you’re not a program. That’s certainly not how Krzyzewski built his program at Duke.”
Pittsburgh is thrilled. Craig Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that after Stallings’ trainwreck, Capel provides the Panthers with much-needed hope.
“In Capel, they got just what they needed,”
Meyer wote, “someone who could reinvigorate a dejected fan base and start to fill a near-empty Petersen Events Center in the short term while offering a recruiting and talent development prowess that can once again make the Panthers competitive in the ACC in the long term. It’s a sense of reassurance that extends to administrators such as
(Heather) Lyke, who said Capel is taking over what she believes to be a top-10 or top-20 job in Division I.”
How this all effects Kentucky remains to be seen. As long as Coach K remains on the job, Duke will be a formidable recruiting foe for any college basketball power, but Capel raised the ante.
