Howard forward, former Ohio State transfer Seth Towns opts to forgo 9th season of eligibility

Seth Towns has officially finished with one of the longest career in the history of college basketball, announcing Wednesday that he will forgo his remaining eligibility.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello had the scoop, tweeting that Towns has decided to move on from college hoops after eight seasons:

“Seth Towns will not be returning to college for a ninth season, he told ESPN. Towns had one year of eligibility remaining after missing two seasons at Harvard, one at Ohio State, then stepping away from basketball for a year. Averaged 14.2 PPG and 6.5 RPG last season at Howard.”

Towns’ career is one of the more fascinating in the history of the sport, and lucky for him, occurred at the confluence of some major rule changes which allowed him a Fountain of Youth in college. He initially began at Harvard in the fall of 2016, providing two productive seasons, including the 2018 season where he averaged 16 points per game.

Towns’ last two years at Harvard were much worse for the youngster as he missed both the entire 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons due to two different surgeries to repair cartilage in his knee. He ultimately wound up graduating with that coveted Harvard degree, but following two injury-riddled seasons, he decided to go play elsewhere as a grad transfer in year five.

So, in 2020-21, he caught on with Ohio State, played 10 minutes per game and averaged just over three points a night in the only season out of five straight that he played. Yes, that year at OSU was sandwiched in between the two injured years at Harvard and then another medical redshirt in 2022 before he decided to take a basketball sabbatical in 2023.

Then, in 2024, with Towns pretty out of the picture as a college hooper, he entered the transfer portal and wound up at Howard, where he played his final season eight years later, averaging north of 14 points per game at age 26.

2023-24 was only the fourth year Towns actually appeared in a basketball game, as he redshirted or sat out the other four seasons. Thus, given the extra COVID year, he still could have applied for a waiver and played next season. Alas, he won’t choose to do that and will hang the sneakers up after eight incredibly up-and-down years as part of the sport.