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Harvard’s Seth Towns to transfer to Ohio State

seth towns arrested

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 10: Seth Towns #31 of the Harvard Crimson shoots the ball against Jimmy Boeheim #3 of the Cornell Big Red during the first half of a semifinal round matchup in the Ivy League Men’s Basketball Tournament at The Palestra on March 10, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harvard defeated Cornell 74-55. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)

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Former Harvard forward Seth Towns announced on Sportscenter that he will be transferring to Ohio State over Duke.

“I’m coming home,” Towns said. “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.”

Yes, that’s how starved we are for sports content in the throes of COVID-19 lockdown.

We are allowing grad transfers to announce on the biggest sports show on the planet where they will be finishing their basketball career.

What a time to be alive.

Towns, in theory, is a perfect piece for the Buckeyes. He was the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2018, having averaging 16.0 points and 5.7 boards while shooting 44.1 percent from three. As one coach who competed against him that season said, “he’s a 6-foot-7 driller that can block shots and rebound for his position.” A Columbus, Ohio, native, Towns will slot in perfectly next to Kyle Young, Duane Washington and Luther Muhammad.

In theory.

The problem here is that the last time we saw Towns on a college basketball court was 742 days ago. He sat the 2018-19 season and the 2019-20 season with knee injuries. There are very real question marks about just how healthy he actually is. There are also very real question marks about whether or not he’s actually gotten better over the course of the last two seasons. Is he still in shape? Can he still complete at an Ivy League Player of the Year level?

When healthy, Towns is good enough to be a starter on just about any team in the country. He has the upside of being an honorable mention all-conference kind of a player in the Big Ten. But there is no way of actually knowing whether or not he is healthy until we actually see him, you know, play healthy.