Capel on the freshmen, Hinson, the season and more

Jeff Capel met the media on Wednesday and talked about the freshman guards, the coming season and a lot more. Here's video and a full transcript of his remarks.

What’s different this year? Do you enter this season with a little bit of a jump in your step because of what happened last year?
Capel: I’m excited. I’m really excited about our season. I love my team. Obviously, we’ve been together for a little bit because of our trip to Spain. We’ve been together where we have everyone since we got back in school, so late August. Federiko was not with us in Spain and obviously Mike wasn’t with us. Jorge should be cleared for full-go this Friday. He’s been back in practice; he just hasn’t been able to do five-on-five. So it’s exciting.

It’s different. One of the things that’s new is, we’ve got from four 22, 23-year old guards to, now we have some young guards. But they’re talented and we’re excited to watch them grow.

When you were out recruiting this offseason, was it a little easier to sell guys on what you have here after some success last year?
Capel: I wouldn’t say it’s - I mean, recruiting’s hard. And with the changing landscape of college athletics, it’s become - it’s a different type of challenge, when you talk about the NIL and the one-time transfer. But the one thing that was different is that people knew about us. They knew the success that we had. They knew that we made the Tournament, that we won a couple games in the Tournament. They knew Blake Hinson. They knew who he was. They knew who the twins were. They knew who Federiko was, so that was something that was very, very helpful for us.

There’s no substitute for experience, but what can you do to speed that process up for some of these young guards?
Capel: Well, they have to grow up fast, and I’ve been very honest with them about that because they’re going to play. They’re talented, they’re mature, they’re coaches’ sons, they’ve been coached really well by their high school coaches. They’ve been around basketball their whole lives, they’ve been in gyms their whole live. So there will be a learning curve, but fortunate for them, number one, they’re talented; number two, they’re gym rats; and number three, maybe as big as any of them, they have some really good older guys in the program to help them, some guys that have had success, some guys that have been here that have been really impactful on their development so far.

Who gets the first shot at running the point?
Capel: I don’t know. I mean, we’re still trying to figure it out. Jaland, Bub - Bub is Carlton, so whenever you hear me say Bub, it’s Carlton. Those two guys, Ish will have the ball in his hands at times. We can play all three of them together. We’re still trying to figure that out. Jaland’s probably more of a pure point, something that he’s basically done his whole life. But we think Bub can really be very good there and Ish can give us some good minutes there as well.

You guys made two pretty big additions in the portal with Ish and Zack. What do they bring to the table?
Capel: They bring experience. They’ve been in college basketball. They’ve been good players in college basketball. They’re older. They’ve been in big games. They’ve been in big environments. And they want to be a part of something. If you look at both of them, Ish - although they struggled as a team at Rhode Island last year, he got a chance to be a volume guy, to play a lot of minutes, to be able to play through mistakes. We think he can be really good here while being way more efficient than he was because of the other people that he’ll have around him.

And both guys are moving up a level, both Ish and Zack, but Zack is an elite athlete that does some things that jump off the page, that just wow you. He has to learn how to do it all the time, to be more consistent with it, especially to play at this level, to have the type of impact that we think he can have at this level for us.

They’re both great kids, they both want to be really good and they want to win, so we’re going to need them to do that for us.

Did you have conversations with Blake throughout the offseason about - you know, last year, you guys were veteran-led and you had guys who set the tone. Now he’s kind of the holdover veteran from that group to keep up the culture and be the guy who leads it. Did you talk to him about how he has to do that?
Capel: We have had a lot of talks, we’ve spent a lot of time together. I think he’s ready to grow in that aspect of his game. But he can’t do it by himself. One of the great things is that we have a group of guys - Blake is one, Federiko, the twins, even though Will didn’t play, he was with us all year - they know what it feels like. They know what it looks like. KJ Marshall’s a guy that’s in that group as well. They know what it feels like, they know what it looks like, they know what it sounds like, and what I mean by that, they know what winning looks like, they know what it sounds like, they know how it feels. And that’s something that they have to also help Blake with - the leadership part. It can’t just be one guy, just like last year it wasn’t one guy. But Blake is a guy that I think is really primed to step up. He’s studied some things leadership-wise, I’ve gotten him involved in some things that I think will really, really help him. The main thing is that he’s helped himself by getting in really good shape. He’s a better player now than he was last year and we’re excited about his continued growth, both on and off the court.

Looking at the website, it looks like Guillermo and Jorge put on some pounds this offseason. How did they go about doing that?
Capel: Just work, man. Just work. They each decided not to play for their national team this summer; that was a big decision for them. It was something they wanted to do, to stay here and train. They knew that they needed to put on some weight. It’s something they wanted to do for their continued growth and development, and both of them were able to do it. I think G put on about 20 pounds. I think Jorge’s close to 20. Now, we know some of that will come off as he starts to practice. He hasn’t done anting with us five-on-five since early July, I think. I think that’s when the injury happened. So we know he’ll lose some, but I do think that they have a great foundation. And it was just what they did in the weight room, what they did with our nutritionist, so Vince and Jacqueline and the people here did an unbelievable job. But most importantly, those two guys did a great job.

You talk about Blake with his leadership; what about on the court? What are some of the things you want to see from him this year? What have you challenged him to improve when he’s on the court?
Capel: He has to improve his decision-making. He’s going to be a guy that gets a lot of attention this year and we understand that. So his decision-making, where he’s not just running people over. It’s really just that. We need him to rebound better. We challenged him defensively, to be better on that side of the basketball.

Look, he’s our best player, and when you’re the best player, there’s a responsibility that comes with that. I think he’s embraced that. That responsibility is to show up every day at a very high level. But I think one of the first things he did to accept that is that he’s gotten in really, really good shape. He’s probably lost about 25, 30 pounds from the end of last year - not necessarily the end of the season, but when school was over with. And he’s just able to do more things out there on the court.

Will Jeffress who you talked about before his injury making strides. Where is he at now compared to the end of last year?
Capel: He never was able to do anything five-on-five with us toward the end, but he was playing one-on-one, he was working on his game. Probably the biggest thing is that he worked on his body. He’s a lot stronger than he was when he was on the court the last time in a Pitt uniform when he played two years ago. He’s had a really good summer. We need Will to keep everything simple. We think he can be a really, really good defender, a great cutter and being able to make a shot. He has shot the ball very well, but he’s got to do it in games. He’s got to be able to do it when the lights come on. We have confidence in him doing that, and I’ve said from the beginning, I think Will has the ability to be a really good leader, so we’re going to need that from him.

As a coach, what’s the more difficult task: building a program up from where it was or sustaining it to stack NCAA appearances?
Capel: Yeah, it’s really, really hard to do both. Certainly, when I got here, obviously there were different challenges and throughout the first five years, those challenges became even greater when you go through a global pandemic and a greatly changed landscape in college athletics with the one-time transfer and with name, image and likeness. Now we’re dealing with something a little bit different that we haven’t dealt with or had to deal with, which are expectations because of what we did last year. And that’s great. That’s exciting. I think our guys are up for the challenge, we’re up for the challenge. It’s something we’ve talked about. We’ve been very open and honest and transparent with our guys about that, and we’re excited to see what steps we take.

Was there a dynamic on your Spain trip where, the twins have been here all last year, so this was the first chance for them to be like, ‘Now you guys are in my territory.’ What was it like seeing your players - I know there were new guys who weren’t part of it last year, but that had to be an interesting dynamic?
Capel: It was awesome. It really, really was. First and foremost, as of right now, our guys have - the camaraderie, the togetherness, the chemistry has been great. Now, purposely when we were in Spain, we played everybody the same amount of minutes. Everyone played. We subbed. It’s not going to be that way when we get to the season. I know that. But we didn’t have anyone with their mouth puffed out and things like that. You start to really find that stuff out when you get hit in the mouth out, when you get to games and guys maybe don’t play as much as they thought they would play or maybe not at all - that’s when your chemistry is really tested. But I really like where we are right now. The Spain trip was really awesome, because you got to see that, you got to see our guys and even the new guys that this was their first year with our program, that were genuinely interested in their hometown. That’s where we went first. And being there and talking to them and seeing the pride they had and showing their teammates and their coaches where they grew up. We got to see where they lived, we got to see where they went to school there. When we got off the plane in Tenerife, their mom was there with family members and they had big signs and all kinds of stuff like that. We played a game there and it was a great crowd with a lot of family. We finished and we let them stay. We got on the bus and went back to the hotel. They went with their family, which was awesome. But it was really cool for our guys to get to experience that.

We haven’t had a chance to talk to you since Dior’s dismissal from the University. Do you have a comment on that?
Capel: I don’t. We just wish him well. Just wish him well. He’s been through a lot and he’s made some mistakes. I love the kid and I hope some positive things happen for him.

Were you surprised it turned out that way?
Capel: Nothing surprises me anymore.

What were some of the conversations you had with Fede about his experience on the Finnish national team and also Blake testing the waters of the NBA that they can take away going into this season?
Capel: Yeah, in the order in which you asked, anytime our guys have a chance to represent their countries, it’s something that I want them to do. I want them to have the opportunity if they want to do it. So Federiko got a chance to go through that whole experience with their national team, trying out for the World Cup, and right up to the final cuts, he was there. To get a chance to play against pros every day in practice, one of which was an NBA all-star in Lauri Markkanen. To be coached by that group and be in organized basketball in the summer can’t do anything but help you get better. So I think the experience was really good. He was disappointed that he didn’t make it, especially after spending a lot of time with them. He hated being away from his teammates. They were so excited when he was got back and he was excited to be here, especially with his roommates, the triplets. So that’s really cool.

Blake got to go through the NBA stuff. He got a chance to work out with a couple teams, he had a pro day, he was able to get some feedback, some constructive criticism, some things that I think will help him. Blake’s a guy that’s very honest about who he is and he wants honesty given to him. It’s one of the things I love about him, because it’s the brutal truth. You don’t have to tiptoe around with him. He wants it straight. So he was able to hear some things that he does well but also some things that he needs to work on, and he’s trying to address those things every day.

Looking at your schedule, you guys don’t play a true road game until December 6th. Is that beneficial for a young group like you guys?
Capel: Yeah. It’s still a challenge, because we’ll have that - obviously all of them; I’m not trying to disrespect any of them. Every game is tough, especially these early games, because you don’t know rosters, you don’t know who anyone has and everything is different, every team is different. But we certainly have that stretch where we play those five high-major teams in a row, two up in Brooklyn, then we come back here and I think we have a couple, then we’re at West Virginia. So that will be a challenge for us and obviously the conference schedule just came out; that will be a challenge. But we’re excited about it. We’re excited to be in big games, to be in big moments, and we’ll see where we stand when we get there.

What has your coaching experience taught you about coaching young guards to adapt to what you’re trying to teach them?
Capel: Well, you have to be patient. You have to understand that they’re going to make mistakes and you have to be able to live through some of those mistakes. There’s a learning curve. There’s a lot that’s going to be thrown at them. We’re trying to simulate some things in practice to try to get them prepare for that. But the biggest thing for them is to not be defeated, to have a great attitude every day, to understand it’s a learning process. We’re fortunate Milan Brown was a really good guard in college; his jersey is hanging up in the rafters at Howard. He works with our guards. He has a lot of experience. I played a lot as a freshman guard. My brother played a lot as a freshman, really, everywhere, every position except for the center spot. So I think as a staff, we can help them with learning some things, but there are some things they are going to have to learn through the fire. We’re excited to teach them, excited to work with them. It helps that they’re talented; that really helps. And they are talented. We’re just going to need them to show up every day and to push themselves and try to get better.

But the thing that I really think helps them more than anything is that they have unbelievable teammates, and watching how those guys have been with them has been really cool.

What did your team lose with Papa’s injury?
Capel: You know, it’s unfortunate, man, because even as a freshman, he probably would have been our most physical post guy. He is really strong and he has an unbelievable motor. It’s something you can’t teach. It’s one of the things I fell in love with him when I first saw him - that motor and how competitive he is and just his spirit and his joy. And we saw it in Spain. He played one game; he didn’t play the second game because he got a concussion in the first game because he plays so frickin’ hard and he took a fall and hit his head, came back and played. It was a close game; I thought the game changed with the group that he was in because of some of the things that he does and that he can do defensively. So it’s a big loss for us.

And I just hate it for him. You talk about a kid that loves basketball and loves to be a part of a team. I remember when we recruited him the first time, before he made his decision with Michigan. One of the things I told his AAU coach and the guy that ran the program, and I told his high school coach and I told our staff, he’s probably in high school the best teammate I’ve ever seen. I mean, just the genuine joy that he had for his teammates and their success. And his energy is contagious. I think he’ll still bring that from the sidelines.

He’s struggling right now. He’s struggling, just from the standpoint, like, it’s hit him that he can’t play. He’s had the surgery; he’s doing really well so far with the surgery. But when Monday hit and the first practice, that’s really hard for a freshman, when you’ve waited your whole life for this and this happens. It was a freak thing that happened. He was just in the gym working out and he slipped. So I think in the long term, he’ll be better for it. He’ll be better, we’ll be better. But it’s a blow for us, for sure.

Last year, you guys brought the Big East championship team from awhile ago back and you had the Zoo Crew working out and Justin was back here. What’s the importance of keeping alumni connected to the program?
Capel: Well, it’s something we’ve tried to do since I got the job here. We tried to bring people back. We want them to be a part of it. One of the reasons why I’ve wanted to try to always have someone on the staff who wore the jersey, and it started with Ronald Ramon, was because of that. Me and our staff, with the exception of Brian Regan, we don’t have ties to Pittsburgh or to the University of Pittsburgh or this program. So I think Reegs has been a huge help for us with that, but having someone on staff that can talk to these guys about what it means to wear the jersey - Gilbert Brown is that way for us now, and Gilbert’s been elevated to an assistant coach since we’ve been able to add two more.

Gilbert’s done an amazing job of the alumni relations and getting those guys back. This summer was the best. Ronald started it and Gilbert’s continued to build on it and do things. The TBT thing that we had, those guys back here this summer - I think it’s really important for current guys in the program to understand how good this program was and to understand why it was good. And it was good because of people. It was good because of the players. Certainly, Ben was a really good coach. Jamie was an outstanding coach. But man, they had really good players, and those players bought in to what Ben was doing, to what Jamie was doing, and they had a pride about what they did. For our guys to understand that, that’s what last summer was about. I thought that was a huge thing - not this past summer but the summer before last - with that new group that we had. And then for the season to be over, for Nelly, for Jamarius, for Greg to be here all summer, to train, those guys played a huge part in Jaland and Bub growing this summer. Jaland and Bub got here early. They were here the first session of summer school. That’s different. They didn’t wait until the end of June. They got here early. They got a chance to be around them. And certainly when Levance is here, to get some of that knowledge and then when all of them came back - it’s been really, really good. It’s something that’s really important for the current guys and guys that we’re recruiting to understand, this program has been really good. We want to try to get it back to there, and if we can get it back to there, hopefully we can take another step and get a little bit further.

Is ‘Bub’ Carlton’s nickname all the time? Or is that something that he developed with you guys?
Capel: No. That’s since I’ve known him. He’s been Little Bub. His dad is Bub, so he’s Little Bub. But around these parts, everybody just calls him Bub.