Jeff Capel Meets With 2020 4-Star PG Andre Curbelo

Three years ago, Andre Curbelo made the decision to leave Puerto Rico and come to the United States.

He was a talented 14-year-old and felt he’d get better by playing in the States, so he moved to New York.

It proved to be a good decision, because three years later, Curbelo (6-foot, 170 pounds) is a four-star recruit, is rated as a Top 100 junior and holds many high major offers.

Wednesday night, Pitt became the latest school to offer him a scholarship. Jeff Capel didn’t waste any time getting to know Curbelo as he traveled to New York today to personally meet him.

“I was happy about the Pitt offer because it was another ACC school that offered and since the ACC is the best conference in the country, that tells me that I can play at the highest level against the best,” Curbelo told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “I’m really proud of myself and I’d like thank to my teammates and coaching staff cause without them I wouldn’t be having all these blessings and great opportunities.”

Thursday, Curbelo met with Jeff Capel, which was his first extensive talk with him.

Courtesy of Andre Curbelo

“Coach Capel talked to me a lot about the way he coaches and the way he is with his players and about how much he loves my game,” Curbelo said. “Something that impressed me a lot was that he thinks we could have a great connection and that if I was in his backcourt, he thinks I could do great things.

“I’m a true point. I like to get my teammates involved in every play and as much as I can. I like to use a lot of ball screens and then create to either find shooters or big man in the roll or create for myself. I think my main strengths are: one, IQ — I’m smart; two, I got such great love for the game and last but not least; three, I have the guts to go against anybody.”

Curbelo holds offers from Pitt, Dayton, Illinois, Rutgers, UConn, St. John’s and West Virginia. At this point, he’s still trying to figure all this out and hasn’t decided on any upcoming visits.

If he decides to make a visit to Pitt, it could have to do with the talk he had today from Capel.

“He loves the game as much as I do and that he cares a lot about his players and always wants to make sure they’re in a good spot where they can succeed.”