TJ Power rediscovering himself in new surroundings at Penn

TJ Power traveled long and winding road at Duke and Virginia before realizing his potential at Penn, where Fran McCaffery finally gets to develop him after missing on him as an Iowa recruit. (Photo by Penn Athletics)

PHILADELPHIA — The sight of a five-star recruit suiting up at an Ivy League school is very rare. In the case of TJ Power, it almost borders on surreal to see the 6-foot-9 forward in a Penn uniform.

Once the No. 19 overall recruit in the class of 2024 according to Rivals, Power committed to Duke after a prep year at Worcester Academy. Trapped behind the likes of Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell in the Blue Devil frontcourt, and ultimately recruited over a year later when Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach arrived in Durham, Power entered the transfer portal and resurfaced at fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Virginia. However, the abrupt retirement of head coach Tony Bennett before the Cavaliers began the season stunted Power’s growth further, and after another year as a reserve — this time in Charlottesville — the Massachusetts native re-entered the portal, where he was reacquainted with a familiar face.

Fran McCaffery actively recruited Power while at Iowa, where he eyed him as a successor to Kris Murray in the hope of continuing the lineage of Hawkeye big men. Iowa was a finalist for Power, but ultimately lost out to Duke as he became a part of Jon Scheyer’s first full recruiting class on Tobacco Road, alongside future first-round NBA Draft pick Jared McCain, now of the Philadelphia 76ers.

“He had as good a summer as anybody I’ve ever recruited,” McCaffery said of Power and the initial impression he left. “He was beyond spectacular, so you knew everybody was going to jump in there. Duke jumps in and he goes there, played some, learned.”

“I could go on for a long time about that and those two years,” Power recalled. “You learn a lot. Sitting on the bench and seeing the game from that point of view, especially when you have expectations coming into college, it’s a humbling experience.”

Two years later, with Power back in the portal a second time and McCaffery — having just landed at his alma mater Penn after being fired after 15 years at Iowa — was in the market for a two-way forward, a trademark of his offensive system. With a strong bond between them going in, McCaffery laid his plans out to Power, reintroducing his vision.

“When I first started recruiting him (at Iowa), I told him this is how it would be,” McCaffery said. “I told him when he came here, I said, ‘listen, those two years are going to benefit you.’ Last year was kind of a lost year for him. Tony retired before the season starts, it’s not what he was expecting when he transferred to Virginia. But I have a very special relationship with him and with his parents, so when he went back into the portal, I think he felt like, ‘you know what? I know Coach can help me.’”

“He needed somebody to believe it was still there. I had seen it. He was a championship player in high school, unbelievable in AAU against the top players in the country. Nobody could stop him.”

Power proved McCaffery right Monday, atoning for what he considered a lackluster effort in Penn’s home opener by scoring 23 points and 15 rebounds as the Quakers handed intracity rival Saint Joseph’s its first loss in Big 5 play since the 2022-23 season. The forward admitted he is still adjusting to being a greater focal point, but credits McCaffery for instilling a player-friendly approach to the game that has expedited his development.

“I think it’s just trust,” Power said of the key to his growth during the young season. “Coach McCaffery’s system is made for the players, and a lot of our guys have fallen in love with it. It’s an easy system to get going in. When I get lost in competing, the other parts of my game kind of follow behind that. Each game I play, I’ve been getting more comfortable. Coach has just stayed on me to stay confident, keep shooting and keep playing.”

McCaffery, who coached two of his three sons while at Iowa, felt like a proud father once more when discussing Power’s breakout, with the visible satisfaction and contentment on his face no different than had a game of that magnitude come from his flesh and blood.

“I just hugged him after the game and I said, ‘this is what I’m talking about,’” he said. “‘You’re gonna be the best player in this league, and I love you.’”

Power has also grown his love for a game that once appeared cruel when it seemed like he would not get a chance to live up to his massive hype and potential as a prospect. Looking back, he considers his time at Duke and Virginia vital to his current mindset, citing that experience as an enabler for what each person can bring to the floor to complement his own game and make the sum of Penn’s whole greater than that of its collective parts.

“You have to learn how to love basketball for what it is,” he reflected. “College basketball has a lot of pros, but it definitely has a lot of cons and I experienced that a lot. But I just stuck with the love of basketball and the game itself, and I just kept working to get better and better. Now it’s put me in a position to be a guy who can be a leader and understand what guys are going through at the end of our bench, and be vocal to them. I think that’s a blessing in disguise that I didn’t realize those first two years.”