Pitt's Jeff Capel, Duke's Jon Scheyer tag-team tale involves Jayson Tatum, an expletive and a beer for Coach K

Jeff Capel holds many memories of serving with Jon Scheyer on Duke’s coaching staff.

A story that stands out for both men was the day Capel uttered an expletive in a five-star recruit’s living room while witnessing the “one and only time” he saw Mike Krzyzewski drink a beer.

The two events are not directly related, but both involve getting Jayson Tatum to say “Yes,” to their recruiting pitch.

In the spring of 2015, Capel and Scheyer accompanied Krzyzewski to Tatum’s home in St. Louis. Capel, whose Pitt team will confront Scheyer’s Blue Devils on Tuesday night at Petersen Events Center, remembers the day vividly.

“We won the national championship on Monday. We were there on Thursday. It was something we were all juiced and geared up for,” Pitt’s coach said during an ACC conference call Monday morning.

Scheyer was the point man in the recruitment of Tatum, a McDonald’s All-American who could have gone to any school in the nation.

“Jon had done a really good job (recruiting Tatum),” Capel said. “Coach K was the thing that trumped everything. Coach was coach. He was awesome.”

As it turned out, there wasn’t much convincing that needed to be done.

“He shocked all of us when he committed,” Capel said. “We were just kind of looking at each other. ‘Did this really happen?’

“I said something that was an expletive. I was so shocked.”

Tatum’s mother, Brandy, overlooked the outburst and served the coaches her “amazing” tacos, Capel said. Krzyzewski had his beer.

“Probably most memorable home visit we’ve ever had,” Scheyer said. “See a kid commit on a visit, which is pretty special.”

Tatum spent only one season at Duke and was the third overall choice in the 2017 NBA Draft. Today, he’s a four-time NBA all-star who is averaging 27.5 points per game for the Boston Celtics.

Scheyer and Capel became good friends while working for Krzyzewski, and remain so to this day.

“He’s a really good guy, really good coach,” Capel said. ”Very smart. Right away, you could see what a sharp basketball mind he had, what a really good feel he had for people and for the game. That’s one of the things that made him an outstanding player (at Duke).”

Scheyer, who is in his second season as Krzyzewski’s successor, owns a 2-0 record against Capel, including an 96-69 victory in the 2023 ACC Tournament.

“You wish you didn’t have to play each other,” Scheyer said. “That’s part of it.

“I’m thankful for those years (with Capel), hoping he can say it made him better. I know it made me better, for sure.”