TJ Power arguably has the greatest name in the history of Virginia men's basketball — but he also has the skill to live up to it on the court.
The sophomore forward from Shrewsbury, Mass., committed to Virginia May 6 after playing his freshman season at Duke. Power, who was the No. 17 recruit in the 2023 class according to 247 Sports, had the Cavaliers ranked among his top five schools before he eventually committed to the Blue Devils. He has now joined the program at long last, becoming the highest-ranked high school recruit Bennett has landed. As Virginia looks to get itself back into national contention this season, Power believes his offensive ability and willingness to buy in on defense will be vital.
In his stint with the Blue Devils, Power averaged 2.1 points per game on 33 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent three-point shooting. He appeared in 26 contests but played just 7 minutes per game. Despite standing at 6-foot-9 and 216 pounds, Power attempted just nine field goals from inside the arc and made only two. The rest of his shots came from three-point range, shooting 15-42 from beyond the arc.
The Cavaliers were in need of sharpshooters, having finished 200th in the KenPom metric of adjusted offensive efficiency last season, so once Power was in the transfer portal, Bennett was eager to recruit him again. Power narrowed his list down to Virginia and Boston College, another school that made his final list two years prior. Though he has strong family ties to Boston College, and the school is in his home state, Power’s strong relationship with Bennett was enough to get him to decide on Virginia.
“Coming off of a kind of a shaky freshman year, trust was something that I really prioritized in the portal,” Power said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “I just think the needs that they have here fit what I was looking for, and then partner that with one of the best coaches in the country, if not the best, I think it was the perfect decision.”
Jamie Shaw, a National Basketball Recruiting Analyst at On3, ranked Power as one of the eight best shooters in the class of 2023 — it is his most dangerous tool. However, he separates himself from other high-level marksmen with his unique playmaking skills and fluid athleticism for his size, two traits that made him a highly touted prospect for many years before he put together a consistent jump shot in his final year of high school.
“I’m 6-foot-9 but play multiple positions and am able to stretch the floor, but also like to get downhill and make plays for my teammates with my vision,” Power said about his game.
Power did not get many chances at Duke to showcase the skills that separate him from a mere spot-up shooter, but it certainly was not due to lack of talent. Including Power, Duke brought in four top-25 recruits last season. That is a normal recruiting class size for the Blue Devils, but abnormally, they also brought back four double-digit scorers from the previous season instead of watching them depart for the NBA. In a roster so saturated with offensive talent and experience, Power was not called on to make plays for his teammates.
In contrast, Virginia is losing three of its top four scorers from last season, which leaves a big hole to fill on offense. Though he has only experienced practices and workouts with the team this summer, Power can already tell that his role will be expanded, and he is excited for his defining traits to flourish.
“I think the difference here is getting back to doing more with the ball and being able to really set up my teammates with assists and passes,“ Power said. “In high school I played a lot of guard, and I think with the system we have here, they give me the freedom to make reads and use my IQ to make plays.”
Power is clearly expecting to improve his offensive game with Virginia, but he knows he will also need to get better on defense while playing for Bennett, who expects more from his players on that end of the court than most coaches.
“I want to be able to soak up as much as I can now in the summer about the schemes and in the rules of our defense, and then just finding that effort deep down inside of me to be able to be a part of that defense,” Power said. “That's going to be something that carries us through the ups and downs of the season.”
His early buy-in of the defensive mindset at Virginia should be encouraging to hear for fans of the Cavaliers, but it should not surprise anyone — Power was part of the packline defense in his church’s basketball league in third grade. There, he played under the coaching of his uncle, who is a big Virginia basketball fan.
“They never told us it was packline, but looking back on it, we were basically just plugging gaps and making four-year-olds try to hit threes,” Power said. “That was my first introduction to it.”
While Bennett’s packline is certainly more complex, and the ACC presents stronger competition than Power’s church league, he feels he was taught important principles of Virginia’s style of defense before he joined the team. Power says that this is making his adjustment to the scheme easier, which should allow him more freedom to get comfortable on offense.
As for that side of the ball, Power likened himself to former Cavalier sharpshooting forward Sam Hauser, who transferred to Virginia in 2019 after starting his career at Marquette. Bennett showed Power some of Hauser’s film while recruiting him, and the sophomore is taking kindly to the comparison. Hauser scored 16 points per game on 41.7 percent three-point shooting in his lone season with the Cavaliers, so if Power is anything like the forward now playing for the Boston Celtics, Virginia will be ecstatic with its newest frontcourt sniper.
But for now, expectations for Power should be managed. Hauser entered the program with three years of college experience and an All-Big East selection to his name, so it would be unreasonable to think the 20-year-old Power will easily replicate his success in year one with the team. Furthermore, the majority of players who blossomed into NBA talent under Bennett’s leadership did so over the course of multi-year college careers. Power has three years of eligibility remaining, and with how much he picked up from his freshman year, the sky is the limit on his potential in Charlottesville.
“I learned to stick with my work”, Power said. “I would go stretches where I didn't play at all, but the one thing I learned was just to keep improving constantly. I'd always been one of the better players on my teams growing up, so going through that process last year and taking days to figure out what I need to improve on, now like, [I’m] trying to turn weaknesses into so much strength.”
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