While hosting the heralded Duke basketball rookies on this week's edition of The Brotherhood Podcast, graduate center Ryan Young asked who of the four had the best prep career. At first, the consensus swayed toward the two-time California Gatorade Player of the Year in five-star McDonald's All-American guard Jared McCain.
But forward TJ Power, a five-star hoopster and last season's Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year out of Wilbraham & Monson Academy, then seemed to sell the already visibly tight-knit group on his dual-sport accolades. They include state championships on the hardwood and diamond, where he starred as a pitcher.
Power, who shoots a basketball with his right hand but delivers 88-mph strikes on the mound with his left, said he hasn't yet counted out the possibility of suiting up for 12th-year Duke baseball head coach Chris Pollard in the spring.
"I'm working on it," the 6-foot-9, 215-pound polished stretch-four said when five-star guard Caleb Foster inquired about his potential to join the baseball team. "I'm still in conversations [with Pollard and his staff]. I'm thinking about it..."
Then, when Young asked whether any 2023-24 Duke basketball players would get a hit off of him, TJ Power laughed at that pipe dream, at least when speaking about fellow rookies in the room.
"Definitely not one of these three," Power proclaimed, hilariously putting McCain, Foster, and five-star freshman forward Sean Stewart on the defensive. "Definitely not Caleb...I throw like 102 — no, I throw like 88. But I'm a lefty. And I have a slider. So..."
If the Blue Devils reach the Final Four — a guarantee that Foster made later in the podcast — TJ Power presumably wouldn't have an opportunity to join the baseball team until well after the midpoint of its season.
While it feels unlikely he'll do that in his first year as a Blue Devil, as he said, don't count it out just yet.
More must-reads: