Pitt's Jeff Capel, other ACC coaches have no blueprint for coaching amid pandemic

Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Jeff Capel have been head basketball coaches for a combined 97 seasons, leading teams into gymnasiums all over the world.

But they can draw on nothing from their pasts that would help them shepherd their teams — Duke, Syracuse and Pitt — through the covid-19 pandemic.

Capel, who is healthy now, nearly was hospitalized by the coronavirus and missed a game last month.

Krzyzewski and his wife are in quarantine, and he won’t coach Wednesday against Boston College after a family member tested positive, creating what he described as “a deeper feeling” about the virus.

Jim Boeheim said his players, who welcome Pitt to the Carrier Dome on Wednesday for a game that wasn’t on the schedule until Sunday, have handled the situation well. But he said he has been forced to cancel between 25 and 30 practices since the beginning of the season.

“An incredible number,” he said. “Our practices have been good, but there’s nothing like playing games.”

After a string of cancellations and postponements, Duke (3-2, 1-0 ACC) hasn’t played since Dec. 16, which was the last time Capel coached Pitt (5-2, 1-1) in a game. Syracuse (6-1, 1-0) has been idle since Dec. 19.

Capel said Monday his roster might include only nine of his 13 scholarship players for the game at Syracuse. The missing will include two or three who are out with covid issues and Pitt’s best player, Justin Champagnie, who has a knee injury.

Pitt lost two games last week — at Duke on Tuesday and Notre Dame at home Saturday — because of contact tracing and an abundance of caution.

The team was on the bus Tuesday and headed to the airport for a trip to Durham, N.C., to play Duke when Capel got the bad news and ordered the driver to turn around.

The Panthers prepared the rest of the week to play Notre Dame, but a positive test within the athletic department and subsequent contact tracing forced that game to be postponed.

The key word is postponed — not canceled — because the ACC is working to reconfigure schedules so each team plays the requisite 20 conference games.

Capel, who said he has no regrets allowing his players to go home for three days over Christmas, said he doesn’t know when the games will be played.

“I don’t have an expectation,” he said. “To be completely honest, you’re trying to focus just on one game ahead because you don’t know. We’re trying to get ready for Syracuse.”

He said postponing the Duke game was tough on the players and not just because they were already on the bus.

“They were really disappointed because we were ready,” he said. “We had had a couple of good practices and, obviously, the excitement of playing an ACC game and for us coming after a loss (to Louisville on Dec. 22).

“What we’ve tried to focus on is the stuff we can control, and I really don’t know what we can control. Every day, I’m trying to figure out who’s going to be in practice.”

“You’re waiting with baited breath on test results to see who you have for that day. If a kid has a sore throat or a headache or is congested, there’s probably a good chance he can’t practice. All those things are tough, just trying to navigate. I’m not an expert on anything. I’m just a basketball coach. I’m trying to figure this thing out as we go.”

At least, he’s not surprised by the disruptions.

“It’s difficult, but it’s something each coach in our league has anticipated,” he said. “I know I did not anticipate playing the schedule as it was at the beginning of the year.”

“I knew there would be bumps in the road. One of the key words of this season is you have to be able to adapt. You have to be able to adapt and adjust because from here on out, it’s going to be like this. It’s going to be in flux.”

He said his “fingers are crossed” the team will be able to travel to Syracuse.

Krzyzewski, whose game at Florida State was postponed after the team arrived in Tallahassee, Fla., did not make that trip. He was told the chance he had the virus was minimal, but he didn’t want to take the chance.

He hopes to coach Saturday when Duke is scheduled to play Wake Forest, but he won’t know for sure for a few more days.

His other hope is teams around the country will play enough games so they can be judged fairly for NCAA Tournament berths.

“The committee will have to decide what is that judgment,” he said.

Boeheim isn’t among those who believe the start of the season should have been delayed.

“You would have had to wait until June, maybe July,” he said. “The option to not play was never a good option.

“I’m very hopeful we’ll get in 20 games, maybe more. I don’t think it will get worse. I think it can get a lot better.”

“I don’t know that. I’m hopeful for that. Hopefully, we’ll get to the end of the year playing enough games that everybody is showing what they can do.”

Get the latest news about Pitt basketball and all things Panthers athletics.