Per Rothstein and as I speculated, TJ Power from Duke and UVA to Penn. Was a Top 25 recruit. I see a good chance that Sam Brown stays. Penn is acting like other Ivies should and might quite soon.
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Great projection, Rutgers. TJ Powers from what I recalled was a bit underwhelming this season, but utilizing the transfer portal for potential talents is proactive from Fran and Penn.
Given how last season turned out, Quaker fans have to be pleased with the moves. Thanks for the update!
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What a 180 for penn vibes from a month ago. Love Rothstein’s tweet announcing the commitment being per Power’s agency. Times have changed. Roberts/Brown/Power would be fun.
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I want to see some additional size and athleticism from the wing and post positions. I’m not sold on Gerhart in the post, and none of the other underclassmen have really shown much of anything, even in limited minutes.
call me biased, call me blinded, call me whatever.
you have the big p guarantee that the ivy league shouldn’t be scared of a guy who just averaged 1.3 per game in the ACC for a bad team. this doesn’t move my needle outside of being happy that penn got another exciting white (their whole persona).
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oh, i forgot to mention it was on 20% shooting too. that’s supposed to be his thing.
now, he is a big stretch 4 in a league that doesn’t have a lot of size, so obviously we can look for this kid to play a little more, but still: not scared.
Isn’t there a bigger import here? The Bank is open for business is my take. Just watch.
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Could we be going back to the Penn/Princeton days eventually with $$$ backing? No secret that those two schools have a much deeper fanbase (maybe this means bigger wallets).
You have to start somewhere and this is a great start. Program needed life and excitement, and frankly any talent infusion will be very welcome. Who knows how it will play out but still a great result and no way Donahue would have made this happen.
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The proactivity is what matters. Yeah, the kid put up bad numbers on a bad team in a bad conference. But it’s just the indication that Fran’s Penn won’t sit idly or roll over to die like Donahue’s Penn. It’s so crazy, night and day
Excited to hear more!
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And a bad team that got worse when it lost its coach two weeks before the season. Program was in turmoil all year.
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Power 5 conference talent doesn’t translate to Ivy’s well. TJ Power played very little at Duke and Va. Lest you think that’s a predictor let’s look at some other players who played in the IL who went to power 5 schools:
Patrick Tape : All Ivy forward averaged 11 and 6 at Columbia, transferred to Duke and averaged 1.1 and 1.1
Jordan Bruner : All Ivy forward averaged 11 and 9 as a starter at Yale. Went to Bama and averaged 5 and 4.5
Clark Slajchert: All Ivy guard at Penn. averaged 18 ppg. Went to USC and average 4ppg
Mike Smith: All Ivy guard at Columbia averaged 23ppg. Went to Michigan and averaged 4ppg
Plenty of other examples, some good (Wolf, Atkinson, Langborg, etc) but most were much less effective in power 5 conferences than the IL (Dingle, Manon, Jarvis, Ledlum, Llewellyn, etc)
TJ Power has a profile that translates well to the Ivy and his (lack of) success in Power 5 shouldn’t make any difference.
Dingle averaged 11.6 and Ledlum 9.5 in about 10 fewer minutes a game than they got in the Ivies, so they translated pretty well.
I don’t think pointing to the best Ivy players not doing well at the P5 level translates to a well-below average P5 player having potential in the Ivy League. Obviously we don’t have the kind of competition that he was facing in the ACC, but even by efficiency metrics he was horrible. Just bad all around. I am still not moved by this transfer.
However, if the 6’9 stretch 4 DOES do well in the Ivy League, more Power to him… ha
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I agree, the point is that performance at P5 level isn’t a good predictor either way.
P38- It’s the 10 fewer minutes I was highlighting with those two. Less absolute production. You can be a ball hog at the IL that you just can’t in P5.
Really don’t think enough sample size across either season. For what it’s worth efficiency metrics as a frosh at Duke were very good. 109 ORAT, 36% 3s 86% FTs. But clearly he was not much more than a spot up shooter in ACC. At Virginia his numbers we very bad last year but that program was a mess, coach left 2 weeks before the season lol.
That said, the kid had obvious skills to be ranked as high as he was. It didn’t translate to ACC, but I’m excited to have him at Penn. Sounds like a great fit for Fran McCaffrey offense and new setting and better fit in Ivy’s could mean better production. Exactly the right kind of gamble to make.
We’ll see what happens from there but clearly a good start for new staff.
He’s a Top 25 recruit from 2 years ago that Duke and Virginia clearly saw enough from. The 7 other teams would take him in a heartbeat.
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Here’s where coaching comes in. He probably wasn’t getting much attention or development in the s-show at UVA, but he might be a focal point for McCaffery (depending on who else comes to Penn).
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