With Power, Penn Could Be This March's Cinderella Story
Led by TJ Power, the Quakers willed their way into the NCAA Tournament following an improbable Ivy Tournament run
I’m definitely a bit biased here, but Penn could be a formidable opponent for Illinois in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
For those of you who don’t know, I worked at Penn for three and a half years in athletic communications, covering not the men’s basketball team, but the women’s team during the 2024-25 campaign and a few games to start this year.
So when the Quakers went on to shock the nation in the Ivy League Tournament on Sunday and upset top-seeded Yale, I was pumped up, especially after riding home from University City—after filling in as public address announcer at Penn softball—and listening to Matt Leon and Stan Pawlak’s majestic call of Penn’s improbable victory on the Quaker Audio Network.1
No one on that court shone brighter than Penn junior forward TJ Power, who has an incredible story—a former five-star recruit who transferred in from both Duke and Virginia2—with his herculean 44-point, 14-rebound effort and a three-pointer heard ‘round the globe that sent the Quakers to overtime against the Bulldogs.
Using Power’s historic output and a 19-point performance from senior Cam Thrower—who’s the only senior in the Ivy League who started his career on the same team—the Quakers clinched their first Ivy title and automatic bid to March Madness since 2018. At No. 3, Penn was also the lowest seed to win an Ivy League Tournament crown since the first iteration of “Ivy Madness” in 2017.
Most impressively, Penn head coach Fran McCaffery led his alma mater back to the tourney in his first year in charge. McCaffery is just the fifth coach in college basketball history to lead five different programs (Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, Siena, Iowa, and Penn) to the NCAA Tournament, joining Rick Pitino (six), Steve Alford, Lon Kruger, and Tubby Smith.
I was at The Palestra nearly a year ago for Fran McCaffery’s much-anticipated introductory press conference where his message was clear—he believed the Quakers were capable of reaching bigger heights under his leadership.
I didn’t think they’d reach those heights this year.
But here we are. No. 14 Penn has no small task in taking on No. 3 Illinois in the Round of 64 on Thursday night in Greenville, S.C., but ESPN does have them as the most likely 14-seed to take down a three-seed.
There’s one small issue with that scenario, however.
In Penn’s press conference on Wednesday, McCaffery ruled Power questionable with an “illness,” and did not practice with the team at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. When asked what Power’s status for Thursday’s game was, McCaffery said “we won’t know until tomorrow.”
Oof. What a loss that would be.
The Quakers already lost the services of leading scorer Ethan Roberts, who missed the Ivy League Tournament with a concussion. McCaffery ruled him out for the rest of the season, confirming those doubts during this presser.
And now Power, who could almost certainly guarantee a first-round exit against a really tough Fighting Illini foe, if he’s not able to suit up.
Here’s hoping that it’s just a way to fake out Illinois in gameplanning without Power in the lineup, only for him to be 100 percent ready to go at 9 p.m.
Right now, Illinois is a 25.5-point favorite according to DraftKings Sports Book. ESPN Analytics gives the Illini a 97.3 percent chance to beat the Quakers (2.7 percent) on Thursday night. That almost has to be because Power has not been ruled active at this moment.
Without Power, Penn has virtually no chance. It’s that simple. The margin for error against a team like Illinois is already razor-thin, and without the guy who just authored one of the most electric performances in program history, it basically vanishes.
But with Power? That’s where things start to flip.
With him out there, Penn’s not just hanging around—they’ve got a dude who can take over a game in a hurry. You saw it on Sunday. It’s not just the scoring, it’s the energy, the confidence, the way one big shot suddenly turns into a run, and that run turns into “wait a second… what’s happening here?”
And that’s the thing about March. That’s how these Cinderella runs start. Not just talent—but momentum, belief, and one guy getting hot at the exact right time.
I hope TJ Power is ready to go on Thursday night. Penn deserves its moment, and I can’t wait to watch what unfolds.
Matt’s a really good friend and colleague of mine. In addition to men’s basketball, he’s also the radio voice of Penn football, and we’ve worked together the last four seasons and travelled to a ton of places together. My respect for Matt both on and off the mic knows no bounds.
Power was actually recruited by Fran McCaffery out of high school but chose Duke during the recruiting process. After leaving Durham and heading to Charlottesville, he finally reunited with McCaffery when he transferred to Penn ahead of this year. He’s the first-ever five-star recruit to join the Quakers program. Match made in heaven.