Duke Basketball adds to its already No. 1 overall recruiting class for 2023 in TJ Power, a borderline five-star prospect. What does he provide to the team?
While we don’t know how good first-year head coach Jon Scheyer will be for Duke Basketball just yet, we do know how good he is on the recruiting trail. He played a huge role in the top past classes, and in his first true group on his own, has the current No. 1 overall class for 2023.
The Blue Devils already have four commits, all currently listed as five-star prospects according to 247sportsComposite. That includes point guard Caleb Foster, combo guard Jared McCain and a pair of forwards in Sean Stewart and Mackenzie Mgbako. And now they add another to the mix in TJ Power, a true power forward from Worcester, Massachusetts.
— TJ Power (@TJPower14) September 7, 2022
Power is a 6’8 frontcourt prospect that is one of the top spacing forwards in the entire class. He’s a skilled playmaker as well and a multi-sport athlete (baseball). His ability to make three-pointers at a high clip makes him an instant impact player at the college level and could be a future NBA prospect as well.
What’s interesting to watch about this latest commitment is how it’ll all work out minutes-wise, considering how many five-star forwards there are on the current and future rosters. This season, Mark Mitchell is a top-20 forward that’ll get minutes but isn’t a definite “one and done” pro prospect just yet. And that’s especially true if top-5 overall incoming freshman Kyle Filipowski plays most of the time at the four-spot with Dereck Lively around at center.
I mentioned class of 2023 commits, Stewart and Mgbako, both of whom are essentially listed at the same height and size as Power and are also power forwards. Yet they each have different skillsets, as Stewart is an extremely athletic two-way player, while Mgbako has more of a perimeter game and could easily play at the three-spot to make room.
Power’s game and ability to shoot will force Duke Basketball to find a way to get him onto the court but it will be interesting to see how the minutes work out in the frontcourt. But that’s a future problem to worry about for the coaching staff. For now, it’s yet another recruiting win on the trail.