Penn’s run to the NCAA Tournament has deepened the bond between Fran McCaffery and TJ Power
Since his epic performance in the Ivy League tournament final, Power has spoken about how finally joining McCaffery has not just improved his play on the court but also his mental health.
TJ Power sat at the podium, a few minutes after a 44-point explosion in the Ivy League tournament final had shot him to national stardom.
This kind of moment was supposed to have happened for him at Duke, where he arrived as a five-star recruit in 2023, or at Virginia last season. But it didn’t happen until his third school, one far removed from the bright lights these days.
It also didn’t happen until he realized something he’d kept in the back of his mind all along.
Penn coach Fran McCaffery has spoken plenty before about how long he has known Power and his family, and tried twice to recruit Power to Iowa. Power has also spoken plenty about his journey through those ACC powers, and all that didn’t go right. But this time, something felt different, and deeper.
“I made the mistake twice of saying no to him, and I didn’t want to make that the third time,” Power said. “His style of play, what he’s done for me, it’s everything. And I don’t think I tell him enough.”
He admitted, too, that the journey he went on “can beat you down,” and that there were “some dark times, some times where you start to kind of give up on yourself a little bit.”
» READ MORE: Fran McCaffery, TJ Power, and the Penn Quakers are now the coolest story in Philly hoops | Mike Sielski
With the support of his family, McCaffery, and plenty of religious faith, Power persevered and now thrives on 33rd Street.
“It took a village to keep me up, and now I’m here, and Coach is part of that support group along with my teammates,” he said. “And I just get uplifted every time I’m on the court.”
McCaffery sat next to Power as he spoke, silent but clearly moved.
“Oh, it’s the best feeling in the world as a coach,” he told The Inquirer back in Philadelphia, as the Quakers prepared for Thursday’s NCAA Tournament matchup with Illinois in Greenville, S.C. (9:25 p.m., TNT).
“This time around, I was like, ‘This is the perfect place for you. We will make it happen together,’” McCaffery continued. “And from the minute he committed to us, his work ethic is exactly what you dream about as a coach when you get a player to come and play for your program.”
» READ MORE: Three schools later, TJ Power came to Penn with armor. He’s feeling ‘indestructible.’
The payoff wasn’t immediate. Power dealt with an elbow injury in preseason, and though Penn made the Big 5 title game, it started Ivy League play 2-4 before going 9-1 the rest of the way, including the league tournament. The last win was the program’s biggest in eight years.
“I mean, he was a five-star recruit for a reason,” McCaffery said. “I watched him against the best players in the country. There’s a reason why Duke recruited him as hard as they did — they don’t make a lot of mistakes.”
But with Cooper Flagg and other future stars on the way, McCaffery said Power “made the move that he had to make so that he could show what he could do, and I’m just thrilled every day to be his coach.”
It’s a reminder of something beyond basketball: that happiness matters for young adults on a college campus, too.
“I mean for me in my journey, it’s everything,” Power said. “That was Coach’s recruiting pitch. It wasn’t X’s and O’s or film. I understood his playing style, but he just wanted me to have fun. And that’s where it has to start.”
» READ MORE: Penn took the long way back to the Ivy League tournament
He recalled a saying from his father: “He thinks the ball will take good bounces if the person who’s shooting the ball is happy.”
On Sunday, it didn’t have to bounce. That big game-tying three went straight through the net.