Seth Towns, the former Ivy League Player of the Year who missed four of the past five seasons with injuries, entered the transfer portal and getting set to play his 8th season of college basketball.
Towns, who will be 26 years old at the start of the next college basketball season, hasn’t played since 2020-21.
The forward began his undergraduate career at Harvard in 2016, where he played two seasons, averaging 14.2 points and 5.0 rebounds and winning the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2017-18. Towns, on the other hand, battled knee injuries the rest of the way, missing the entire following two seasons.
Towns transferred to Ohio State prior to the 2020-21 season, and he appeared in 25 games for the Buckeyes that season. For an Ohio State team that won a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Columbus, Ohio native averaged just 3.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10.8 minutes per game.
He chose Ohio State over other major programs.
“I’m coming home,” Towns said at the time. “From a basketball standpoint, it makes sense for me. Obviously, there’s no place like home. Coach [Chris] Holtmann and I have developed a really good relationship; I trust him wholly. It’s great. It’s been my childhood dream. I have a painting of me in an Ohio State jersey on my childhood bedroom wall, even still. I got that when I was 2 years old.”
Last September, Towns announced he was stepping away from basketball due to the numerous injuries he had suffered over the past few years.
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“It comes with sadness and faith that I must announce I am stepping away from Ohio State and Team 124, and that I will not be playing this season,” he said. “After a few setbacks this summer and some tough conversations with my coaches and medical personnel, it has become clear that my body is not in a position to endure a full Big Ten season. I share with many of you the frustration of not having been able to compete at the level I am capable of, or at least something close to it.”
Towns will now play at Howard University.
Despite next season being his eighth in college basketball, he could actually have up to two years of eligibility remaining — depending on how many years he qualified for a medical redshirt.
He has technically played only three total seasons at Harvard and Ohio State, and one was in 2020-21, which the NCAA considers to be the COVID-impacted campaign.
