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ACC Hoops: Jeff Capel on NLI, Duke players on Mike Krzyzewski’s successor

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ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips talks to reporters at the 2021 ACC Tip-Off in Charlotte on Oct. 12, 2021. (Mitchell Northam / Pittsburgh Sports Now)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Shortly after Mike Krzyzewski announced last spring that the 2021-22 season would be his last as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils, the school named current associate head coach Jon Scheyer as his successor.

So, essentially, Scheyer is the coach-in-waiting. Though Krzyzewski isn’t a fan of that sort of terminology. The man who has won more games than anyone else in Division I men’s college basketball is living in the now.

“He’s not a coach-in-waiting; he’s my associate head coach,” Krzyzewski said Tuesday. “He’s been with me for eight years, and he’s basically going to do the same fantastic job that he’s always done and then take over and continue to do that job.”

Indeed, Scheyer has been an assistant coach at Duke since 2014, when he ended his playing career overseas. A former Duke shooting guard, Scheyer played professionally in the G-League, Israel and Spain. In 2018, he became Coach K’s associate head coach, filling that void on the Duke staff when Jeff Capel left to become the head coach at Pitt. And this time next year, the program will belong to Scheyer.

Duke’s players have already taken a liking to him.

“(Scheyer) has been great, especially my time being here he’s helped so much, not only on the court but off the court things,” said junior forward Wendell Moore Jr. “I think the transition is already going to go smoothly, and I honestly don’t think there was a better person for the job.”

Senior forward Joey Baker added: “I think Coach Scheyer is an amazing guy. He’s fully bought in to each individual guy on the team and the overall team success. Kind of speaking for him, he’s not really thinking about next year, he’s fully bought into this year, and that goes for the whole team.”

First-year Tar Heels’ head coach Hubert Davis on honoring UNC’s traditions

“The foundation of who Carolina is, I believe in it. It’s been tried. It’s been tested. It’s been proven successful. I believe in what Coach Smith taught. I believe in what Coach Guthridge taught. I believe in Coach Williams, how he ran the program. It’s something that — and I’ve said before that I want to travel the same road. I’m just going to do it with my own personality and my own shoes. Carolina is going to be Carolina because I believe in it and I trust it, but I’m also going to do it with my personality.”

Jeff Capel on how NIL has impacted how he recruits

“It has changed. I don’t know how much it has changed my pitch; it’s maybe added a layer… At the end of the day, it should still be about getting a really good education for free, being a part of something, helping you grow – both as a basketball player and as a young man. Now you just have an opportunity to profit off of your name, image and likeness…  But it can’t get in the way of the work on the court and understanding what’s most important. And so, we try to keep it in perspective and get them to understand and try to educate them on the opportunities they could possibly have.”

Capel on if NIL opportunities are better in cities or rural areas

“We’re trying to figure that out. In some ways, yes. Because our city – we have a lot of big businesses, big companies, a lot of big things like that. But we also have the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins. You know, in some cases, is it better to be in like Tuscaloosa, where there’s nothing? Is it better to be in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where there are no pro teams and no other high-major programs? It’s something we’re all trying to figure out. I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that. We’re all trying to navigate this as we build something that’s completely different in the history of college.”

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips on potentially moving the ACC headquarters

“The assessment right now is just of Greensboro, either staying where we’re at in Greensboro in the same building or another part of Greensboro. The presidents will decide if there is a phase two, which would mean we would start to talk with other cities. I have not had one conversation with any city. I have not. And that’s the gospel. I have not. There have been inquiries and the rest of that. I think that taints a process. That’s unfair. We need to do this thing, again, very transparent. I know the history of May 1953. I know how much the ACC means to Greensboro.”

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
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