
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704070488

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:  123 lines

EX-INDIAN RIVER STAR'S STOCK KEEPS RISING TRANSFER TO PRIVATE SCHOOL IS HELPING HIM REALIZE HIS POTENTIAL.

Stu Vetter wasn't the least bit surprised when Old Do- minion coach Jeff Capel appeared at his office door last spring.

Vetter, the head basketball coach at St. John's at Prospect Hall, has sent 69 players to Division I college basketball programs in his 22-year coaching career and ran up over 500 coaching victories before his 45th birthday.

So why wouldn't Capel show up? Every other coach on the prowl for talent does.

What Vetter didn't realize, though, was that this time, a college coach had come to give, not receive.

``I think I'd like my son to come here,'' Capel told a startled Vetter.

``Coach,'' Vetter quickly replied, ``I think I'd like your son to come here, too.''

When your son is Jason Capel, the haggling is minimal.

Athletes often talk about trying to improve every time they com- pete. Capel, who transferred from Indian River High to St. John's last year, is one young man who ap- pears to be able to pull this off.

The 6-foot-7, 215-pound junior forward, who is in Hampton this weekend to play with Boo Williams' 17-and-under AAU team, was a hot commodity before he even got to Chesapeake. The people who do such things rated him among the top eighth-graders in the country.

His star only got brighter during his two years at Indian River, where he led the Braves to two state semifinal appearances and picked up a Group AAA state player of the year award after his sophomore year.

And while St. John's has been ranked among the nation's top 20 teams the past four years, Capel quickly proved he wasn't in over his head by scoring 16 points in the first half of his first game.

``I had a little nervous energy coming to a big-time program,'' Capel said. ``There's a lot to live up to. But once the game started, it felt pretty good,'' Capel said.

The Vikings finished the year with a 24-1 record and ranked fourth in the country. And Capel, who Vetter termed a point forward but who played all five positions, ended up the team leader in points, rebounds and blocks. He averaged more than four assists and less than one turnover per game. He scored 26 points against prep phenom Tracy McGrady, the Mt. Zion Christian Academy star who announced he'll head straight to the NBA. He was the MVP of two tournaments, including the St. James Invitational featuring McGrady.

Oh, and he was named the Tri-State private school player of the year.

To the surprise of almost no one in the prep basketball fraternity, the one-time best player in Virginia has turned up his game yet another notch and returned to the state a whole lot better.

``Definitely,'' Williams said. ``He's shooting the ball better, for one. And he's more mature. People expect these kids to become great overnight, and it takes time. But he's definitely gotten better.''

That precisely the kind of assessment Capel had in mind when he started this transfer business.

There are a lot of folks in Chesapeake who will insist that a rift be- tween Capel's father and Indian River coach Freddie Spellman triggered Jason looking elsewhere (Spellman disputes this; Jeff Capel will not discuss it).

But Jason Capel said that, while he was happy at Indian River, the decision to transfer to St. John's was his alone.

``I just wanted to be the best player and best person I could be,'' he said. ``St. John's is a place I can accomplish both.''

Vetter, the grateful beneficiary of Capel's ambition, agreed.

``Good players want to play in the good programs,'' said Vetter, whose list of former players includes the Orlando Magic's Dennis Scott, North Carolina's Serge Zwikker, UCLA's Cameron Dollar and Georgetown's Ya-Ya Dia. ``Players like Jason want coaches who have experience in dealing with good players. A lot of high school coaches get a player like Jason once in a lifetime.

``So we don't really have to recruit. If you have success, the kids find you.''

Vetter, the only coach in the country to have a team ranked among the nation's best every year since USA Today started its poll in 1982, made liberal use of Capel's diverse talents and ran much of the Vikings' offense through him.

``The best thing about Jason is his versatility,'' the coach said. ``He can handle and create, plus he's got the size of a forward. He just creates a lot of things.''

But while Capel adjusted to his new basketball program with the speed of the Vikings' fast break, getting acquainted with other aspects of life at a 168-year-old Catholic school with 230 students in grades 9-12 - about 1,300 less than Indian River in grades 10-12 - took quite a bit more time.

He went from being the most highly touted player in the state - Capel was the Group AAA state player of the year at Indian River - to being the second-most acclaimed player at his own school. Nikki Teasley was everybody's All-American for the nationally ranked St. John's girls basketball team.

He went from having Dominique Wilkins' poster in his room to having Dominique Wilkins' nephew - Damian, a talented swingman - in his house. Capel and Wilkins were two of the five players who lived with Vetter at St. John's.

Watching weeknight television, a favorite pastime while living in Chesapeake, was still allowed with Vetter - as long as he didn't turn the set on. Only later in the year was the TV rule relaxed.

Add in the mandatory coat-and-tie dress code, the daily chores at the Vetter home, eight classes a day, negligible free time and strict discipline code and it was almost too much, Capel said.

``It was rough at first,'' he said. ``I questioned myself a lot. But I knew I wanted to become all I could be. I knew this was the best place for me.

``But I sure was glad once the basketball started.''

The only real basketball adjustment Vetter insisted on from Capel was regarding his strength. Capel had only dabbled in weight-training at home when he lived in Chesapeake but was put on a strict lifting regimen.

``You could tell he hadn't done much before,'' Vetter said. ``But his body's still developing. We're starting to see the benefits.

Indeed, Capel now displays the early traces of muscle definition he didn't have a year ago, including a slight ripple on the panther tattooed on his upper left arm.

``Thank you!'' Capel said during a late-season St. John's practice. ``Now tell these guys that. They're always saying I'm little.''

That's something no one's ever said about his stature in the high school game.

ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

L. TODD SPENCER photos

Jason Capel...

Capel...

L. TODD SPENCER

Shamine Swift, left, Jason Capel, center, and Carnell Sledge

scramble for a loose ball in the AAU tourney.