In response to a question posed to him during the ACC coaches conference call on Monday, Jeff Capel scrolled through his earliest childhood memories of basketball:

What does Duke do to develop such outstanding young talent each year and provide a smooth transition from high school to almost immediate stardom in the ACC?

The question arose the day before Capel and his Pitt players left for Durham, N.C., and a game Tuesday against No. 4 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

In Durham, Pitt (12-2, 3-0 ACC) will showcase its five-game winning streak against Duke and its starting lineup of freshmen Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach. All three started every game for the Blue Devils (12-2, 4-0).

Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft, is averaging 17.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Knueppel is averaging 12.4 points and the 7-foot-2, 250-pound Maluach is averaging 7.9 points and 5.4 rebounds.

How did they achieve success so quickly?

“I think part of it is talent,” Capel said. “They get the best of the best and they’ve been doing that since 1982 when Johnny Dawkins got there.”

Capel, who played and coached for Mike Krzyzewski, said his boss was an underrated recruiter. Additionally, Capel said, Krzyzewski — and current coach Jon Scheyer — knew what to do with great players when they brought them to campus.

“What Jon did – and just like Coach K did – he gave that talent freedom within that structure and allowed him to be unique. He encouraged them and created an environment in which they could be unique. If you do that, you have the chance to have something special.

“Coach (K) always said, ‘These guys are going to do things that make us coaches look good and make them look like we’re teaching them things when in reality we’re not.’ They’re just so good.’ ”

Capel said freedom attracts other great players. So the cycle continues.

“They want to follow in the footsteps of a Johnny Dawkins or Danny Ferry or (Christian) Laettner or (Bobby) Hurley or (Grant) Hill or (Elton) Brand or (Shane) Battier. I could go on. Now to Cooper. There will probably be more next year.

“When you have such a unique talent, you need unique coaching to nurture it. I hope they really appreciate what they have in Jon right now.”

Scheyer said he has coached freshmen at Duke every year, first as an assistant for nine seasons, then as head coach for the past two and a half years.

“The maturity of the current group and their personalities was as good as any group we’ve had,” he said. “They talk. They want to understand the game on a deep level. We put them in difficult situations from the start. They have shown that they are not afraid. They’re great competitors and it’s not about themselves.”

He said it also helps to have “safe high school students who don’t care about themselves.”

“For me it was a special group that I was able to coach.”

Capel was asked how he plans to slow Flagg, who scored 24 points in Duke’s 89-62 win at SMU on Saturday.

“I don’t know if that’s possible just because he’s so dynamic, in so many different areas,” he said.

Capel hadn’t seen much of Flagg, largely because Pitt’s coach is extremely focused and rarely looks beyond the next game. But he said, “I’ve watched him a lot since Saturday night (after Pitt’s win against Stanford).”

“He has a competitive strength, a competitive drive. He’s a great rebounder. What struck me most is his death. He has such a good feel as a basketball player on both sides. You just have to try to match his competitive spirit and make it difficult for him and hopefully he’ll miss some (shots).

“Very rarely do you see, especially a young guy, a freshman play so hard and be so competitive on both sides of the ball. With all this skill, that’s rare.”

While preparing for Duke, Capel almost became a Flagg fan.

“It’s really great to see it on tape,” he said. “I don’t know how great it will be to see (Tuesday). As a basketball fan, you’re happy to see that.”