Capel: 'It's going to be a tough challenge'

What does Jeff Capel expect from West Virginia? And how does he assess Xavier Johnson’s performance so far? Here’s the full rundown of what Capel said when he met the media on Thursday.

How difficult is it preparing for West Virginia when there’s only one game to look at?
Capel: It’s hard preparing for them anyway because it’s difficult to simulate, especially this year, their size, their athleticism, their strength. They’re a pretty big team, especially if they start the way they started the last game. They’re basically, after McCabe, they’re all 6’7” and above. And versatile and strong and physical. But it is what it is. We have one game of film and Akron played them tough but West Virginia’s a good team. We know that. They’re a team that wants to be disruptive defensively and obviously they rebound the basketball. Their guys have gotten better, especially Culver and Matthews, those guys have really, really gotten better. So it’s going to be a tough challenge.

You talk about their size, do you feel like Terrell is looking forward to this after playing pretty well the first three games?
Capel: I’m sure he’s looking forward. I think he’s looking forward to every opportunity to play. I mean, he’s done some good things in our first three games and we need him to continue to do that, especially against this opponent.

You talked earlier about how it’s hard to simulate what they do, but especially for ball-handlers like Xavier and Trey, how valuable is that experience of playing them last year and having some level of familiarity?
Capel: I think that helps. I also think playing Florida State early helps. Obviously, they have size, they have athleticism and they defended the ball screen a certain way, which we anticipate - I anticipate West Virginia doing that. So hopefully we can utilize some of the things that we learned even from this year to help us in our preparation and to be ready to attack them.

There are a lot of teams with size; is West Virginia kind of unique in that they have big guys that are physical and aggressive?
Capel: Big guys that are physical and aggressive but also are versatile. Like, you take a guy like Matthews - he can really play all the positions in college. So that’s difficult to prepare for. We don’t have a guy like that yet. But certainly those guys inside with Culver and big Oscar, it’s very rare in college basketball now, in my opinion, where a team is actually trying to attack you constantly inside. Mainly the big guys now are ball-screening and rim-running and things like that. Maybe you have one guy you’re really trying to throw it down to every time; they have two guys that they’re really trying to get it down to. But then because of the size of their wings, they post those guys, too. So that provides a different type of challenge for us.

You talked a couple weeks ago about Justin and coming back not just physically but mentally from that injury. How far along do you think he is in that process and how much more comfortable does he seem out there?
Capel: He’s progressing. I think each game he’s getting better. He’s figuring it out. He’s figuring out college basketball. He was thrown right in the fire right away, as were all of our new guys, with Florida State. And then how do you recover from that? How do you move onto the next play after having some success? And none of us handled Nicholls the right way.

I thought he did some good things at Robert Morris. I think his effort level of understanding all the nuances of college basketball and how you have to work, rest, prepare, mentally and physically, I think he’s figuring those things out and I think he’s getting better.

You talked about being in a tough spot with West Virginia only playing one game; has most of your preparation come from the Akron game or are you also taking things away from last year’s game?
Capel: We look at everything, so certainly a lot - a big part of it is the Akron game. We have watched our game last year. But it’s hard, because they really have almost like a brand-new roster. If you look at the guys that played against us, it’s very few of them that are back. The ones that are back are good, but they’ve added so many new pieces. I don’t remember Culver playing against us last year, and he’s really good. A lot of it has been from Akron, though.

There’s not a lot of history in this series for the individuals, the players and the coaches, but it seemed like last year’s game was pretty physical and even chippy at times; did the energy in the rivalry just kind of come naturally?
Capel: Yeah, it seemed like it. It seemed like it. It was a very, very physical game. Very physical. And certainly they have a great home court and their crowd was very into the game and I thought both teams fought and competed. But it was a really, really physical game.

You obviously have a lot of experience in rivalry games with Duke-Carolina and things like that. Is this game different because it’s not a conference game anymore, it comes early in the year, it doesn’t quite mean as much for the end result of the teams’ seasons - does it make it different, in your opinion?
Capel: Different than…

Than like a Duke-Carolina.
Capel: I don’t think anything compares to that. But I do think it’s - when I was the head coach at VCU, Richmond had left and went to the A10 and we still played them and it meant a lot. It meant a lot. The game was played early, but it meant a lot to the people, to the fans, to the students, certainly the coaches - it meant a lot. So I do think this means a lot to people. I know it means a lot to us, I’m sure it means a lot to them, I know it means a lot to our fans. So it still is a big game. It’s a huge game. And it’s a game we want to win.

What’s your assessment through three games of Xavier and how he’s played this season?
Capel: I don’t think he’s played as well as he’s capable of playing. He hasn’t shot it as well, but the decision-making has been just okay. I thought he did a really good job, especially in the second half, against Robert Morris. I thought he controlled the game and I thought he did some things down the stretch against Florida State. But I think he would even tell you he hasn’t played as well as he’s capable of playing, as well as we know that he can play, and we need him to do that.

Does it seem in some ways like he’s trying to do too much or pressing a little bit?
Capel: I don’t think he’s played bad; I just don’t think he’s played as well as he’s capable of playing. I think some of it has to do that defenses are geared up even more for him right now. We have a lot of unknowns. Some of it has to be the competition right away; you know, Florida State in the first game, they really tried to take the ball out of his hands. So some of it has to do with the way that he’s been schemed.

When a young player like him is coming off the season that he had with all the accolades and even externally with some NBA talk, how do you approach a guy like that from a mental standpoint?
Capel: Everyone has to stay in the moment. That’s the bottom line. You can’t get caught up in the noise and you can’t start - and I’m not saying he’s doing it - but no player can get caught up in the noise or thinking that you’ve arrived, because the moment that that happens, you’re beat. The thing that you have - Xavier has, Trey, all of our guys - is that you have hunger. And if you allow that to be gone, then you’re not as good because it’s one of the things that has made him really good, that he had this hunger just to go after you, to go after everyone. He wasn’t afraid of anything and things like that.

Sometimes with young people, especially, if you have some success and people are saying things about you, you have something, you know, some form of success, then maybe it can make you soft. I’m not saying that’s happened with him but I’ve seen it happen before, and it’s our job to make sure that that doesn’t happen with any of our guys.

Is that something that’s tougher to guard against now with the prevalence of social media?
Capel: It’s certainly tougher than it was back when I played, because the noise is even louder now. There’s so many different ways that young people now can access information, and as much as you tell them, ‘Don’t pay attention to it,’ that’s what they’ve grown up with. And they look at mentions, they look and see and it affects them what people say. It’s hard for me to understand, at times, as an adult, but I think it even affects adults.

So it is different. It’s very different. But you have to be able to adapt and adjust and be able to communicate and get young people to understand that they need to be in our moment and listen to the voice inside of our locker room.

I remember you talked about that after the Nicholls game, too; did you ever consider or would you consider a social media policy, even maybe just during the season for guys to stay off it?
Capel: No. That’s their right. It’s not my job to tell them that they can’t be on something. Now, if they don’t handle it right or if they are not responsible - one of the things that we try to do is teach them how to be responsible with social media. But I don’t think anyone’s telling a regular student to get off of it. And these are student-athletes; just because they play doesn’t mean they don’t have the same rights. So that’s not something I would do. I’m not saying that coaches don’t do that and they’re right with whatever they do; it’s what they believe. But that’s not something that I believe in.

Terrell played pretty well the last couple games but that feels like a game where you might need more than one big guy; what have you seen from Hamilton so far and what might you like to see more from him going forward?
Capel: Certainly to rebound more, defensive rebound more. I think he’s done a good job. I thought he did some good things against Florida State. But both he and Karim and Terrell, all three of them, we need them to play big, physical, we need them to rebound and protect our basket.