Former Duke forward TJ Power closed out a rather quiet transfer recruitment recently when he announced his decision to commit to UVa.

While he saw limited action this past year for the Blue Devils (averaging 7.0 minutes and 2.1 points per game), it’s big get for Tony Bennett and the Wahoos.

Virginia recruited the former five-star recruit heavily coming out of high school and in talking to him about his decision, Power alluded to that previous relationship with Bennett and Co. as being one of the main reasons he chose to continue his career in Charlottesville.

“I think overall my relationship with Coach Bennett and the entire staff is as strong of a relationship I have ever had,” Power told CavsCorner. “I think the plan they have for me coming in and being a heavy contributor and really adding a lot of scoring is going to be good for them and at the end of the day I think it is just a perfect match.

“Something else that is really important to me is improving as a defender, especially with plans to go to the NBA and I think Virginia is the place that can really challenge me on that end of the floor and help me improve and just round out my entire game.,” he added. “Most importantly, I did not want to sacrifice winning and UVa is a winning program and I want to get us back to the ACC Championship and make a run in the NCAA Tournament.”

Power has a very good feel for the type of role he sees himself playing in once he’s in Bennett’s system next year.

“Well I am pretty versatile so just being able to spread the offense out more,” he explained, “and spread the floor with my shooting but also being able to make reads coming off the screens and the off ball screens the system has is something that adds a new element to my game that I was not really able to showcase at Duke. Being at Virginia will also help me get back to doing what I did best in high school.”

Power said he had already begun the process of connecting with the current members of the Virginia team and he has learned a lot in a short amount of time.

“Now that I have officially committed, I have been getting in contact with some of the guys that are already there at Virginia and have been really getting to know them better,” he said. “I played against Elijah Gertrude in high school and I really like his game as he brings a lot of explosiveness. But I will say, a lot of the reaction I got from the team already shows the culture that I am stepping into and how it is a ‘we over me’ type of culture and that is something I think I can really help with and add to because that is who I am.”

The Virginia staff was not the only people connected within the program to recruit Power: He and former Cavalier forward Jordan Minor have long been friends and Power said he leaned on Minor when making his decision.

“Another person I am really close with is Jordan Minor and I had some conversations with him just to ask him some questions about his experience and that was a really important part to making my decision just hearing everything from him and hearing his perspective.

“Jordan and I became close this past summer just playing pickup in Massachusetts at different gyms,” Power added. “We would go through the same trainers and just ended up becoming really close through that.”

When asked what the Wahoos can expect of him, Power said: “UVa fans can expect someone that plays with a chip on their shoulder. I had a lot of aspirations in college that I did not really see get fulfilled this past year so I am even hungrier than I have been in my entire life and pairing that with the development that is at UVa and then the culture and the roster that we have coming in, I think that it is going to be a really fun year.”