TJ Power and his father Tom used to search out empty gyms at night in Worcester, Massachusetts, to shoot hoops. At Worcester Academy, the Shrewsbury teenager would gather teammates for late Friday and Saturday night shootarounds in Daniels Gymnasium, supervised by Tom. The court was the family church. Tom had played quarterback at Westborough and later with the Marlboro Shamrocks in the Eastern Football League. Tom's brother Mike played quarterback at Boston College, where their uncle Frank Power was such a revered assistant coach that BC named its gym after him. TJ's maternal grandfather, Tom McHugh, played basketball at Saint Bonaventure. Sport was the family language.
TJ Power was born on December 14, 2003 — the same birthday, incidentally, as Christian Reeves, the Duke center he would later be recruited alongside. He grew up in Shrewsbury, a suburb west of Worcester, and starred at St. John's High School as a freshman and sophomore, averaging 18.1 points and leading the team to the Massachusetts Division I state semifinals. When COVID-19 shut down his junior season, Power reclassified and transferred to Worcester Academy, where coach Jamie Sullivan had been watching him since middle school. "I always kept my eye on him," Sullivan said, "and I always knew that he would come to Worcester Academy. It just depended on when."
The when turned out to be transformative. As a junior at Worcester, Power won the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year award, averaging 13.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. He dropped 26 points and 11 boards in an 85-83 title-game victory over Bradford Christian Academy to win the NEPSAC Class AA championship, earning tournament MVP. As a senior, he led Worcester to a second consecutive NEPSAC title while averaging 23.7 points and shooting 45 percent from three in the final Nike EYBL session in Kansas City — including a 41-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist eruption against Houston Hoops that turned him from a four-star prospect into a five-star one.
He was also a standout baseball pitcher — 1.69 ERA, 31 strikeouts, just three walks across 20.2 innings, winning a CNEPSBL championship with Worcester Academy in May 2023. Duke's staff told him both programs would welcome him.
Power committed to Duke on September 7, 2022, announcing on the same Worcester Academy court where he and Tom had spent all those late nights. "Ever since I was little, I wanted to play on the biggest stage in college, and Duke is the biggest stage," he said. He chose the Blue Devils over North Carolina, Virginia, Iowa, Boston College, and Notre Dame, becoming the fifth and final member of Scheyer's top-ranked 2023 recruiting class — joining Caleb Foster, Jared McCain, Mackenzie Mgbako, and Sean Stewart. Sullivan, his prep coach, saw it coming: "He never got down when he scored six points and eight rebounds and seven assists, and we won. That's TJ, the consummate teammate."
Here is the detail that makes the story ache: Virginia was in his final group of schools. He chose Duke over Virginia. Two years later, he would transfer to Virginia. Two years after that, he would leave Virginia too.