DURHAM, N.C. _ Mike Krzyzewski's ire may have been misplaced, but it was revealing.
With 38 seconds remaining in the first half Tuesday and Pitt's Xavier Johnson shooting free throws, the Cameron Crazies, Duke's famous student section, started a chant.
"Jeff Capel, sit with us," they repeated several times, directing it at Pitt's second-year coach, a former Duke player and assistant coach.
It wasn't an insult or a heckle _ it's a message customarily saved for recruits attending a game _ but Krzyzewski was incensed. With his face growing redder with each second, the legendary Blue Devils coach lashed out in anger, yelling, 'Shut up' multiple times to the students before going back over to them before halftime, telling them repeatedly, in reference to Capel, "He's one of us!"
After the game, Krzyzewski apologized for his actions. He didn't fully make out what they were saying and thought it to be something personal. The fact that was his reflex in that moment, though, is telling, showing just how deep and almost paternal his bond with Capel is.
The Panthers' 79-67 loss to No. 9 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium marked the first time Capel, only a couple of weeks shy of his 45th birthday, had been to the hallowed venue as something other than a Blue Devils player or coach. He wasn't a visitor in a larger sense. He is, as Krzyzewski made quite clear in his moment of fury, one of them. Strictly speaking, though, he was _ a man tasked for one night with beating the coach for whom, for so many years, he did whatever he could to win.
Disappointed as he was with his team's loss, he cherished the opportunity that came with it, unfamiliar and uncomfortable as it was at times.
"It was great being back, to be honest with you," Capel said. "We came in here last night and shot a little bit. It was a little weird walking in here in a completely different entrance, being dropped off at a different place and just being here not with Duke. But once competition starts, man, it's competition. It was great seeing so many familiar faces, people that I care about and people that care about me. That was really cool."
It was obvious for much of the game and in the hours that led up to it that this wasn't just another opponent for Duke.
Within seconds of getting off his team's bus and walking several hundred yards to the arena's entrance, Capel was greeted by cheers from onlooking Blue Devils fans. When he came out on the court three minutes before the opening tip, he received an ovation from many of the 9,314 on hand.
Capel was a four-year starter for Duke from 1993-97. As a freshman, he helped guide his team to the national championship game. Though he was there for some uncharacteristically lean years for the program _ at one infamous point during his senior season, there were boos or collective groans from the Cameron faithful when he re-entered a game _ he ended his career by helping the Blue Devils win an ACC regular season championship. In seven seasons as an assistant coach there, from 2011-18, he was instrumental in putting together four No. 1 recruiting classes. The first of those was the nucleus of a Duke team that won a national championship in 2015, giving Capel something as a coach he fell just shy of getting as a player.
"It meant a lot," Pitt forward Au'Diese Toney said. "He was here for a long time and now he's coaching against one of the best coaches in the country. That's really a big deal for him."
Last season's meeting between the Panthers and Blue Devils at Petersen Events Center was discombobulating in its own way, as he had to face Krzyzewski, his former coach, mentor and close friend, for the first time. Doing it in the building where they made so many of those memories added that much more to the web of emotions surrounding the matchup.
In the days and hours before the game, Capel said he was excited about it, both to return to his alma mater and for the challenge that awaited his team there. How exactly it would feel, though, wasn't something he spent much time pondering.
"I'm not sure I had expectations," Capel said. "I was honestly just trying to concentrate on my team. As my dad would say, we had enough to say 'Grace' over worrying about Duke and preparing for them instead of me worrying about my feelings and how I'm going to feel here coaching or walking in here. I was really trying to lock in to my team and be present in our moment."
The homecoming was complete with any number of familiar faces, from players on the other sideline he once coached to former colleagues to arena security guards. One of Capel's former Duke teammates, Ricky Price, was among those in attendance. Matt Jones, a player he coached from 2013-17, was also there, making his first trip back to Cameron for a game since he graduated. More than 30 minutes after the game, long after much of the crowd had left, Nolan Smith, a former Duke player and member of the Blue Devils' staff, and Krzyzewski's wife, Mickie, met with Capel just outside the Panthers' locker room.
Duke had gotten the result it wanted Tuesday, improving to 17-3 on the season and holding firm its standing as a top-10 team. But this was somebody it took no pleasure in beating.
"I love Jeff," Krzyzewski said. "Jeff is my son, man. We're part of a brotherhood. Playing against him is very difficult. I don't like it."
