Carton's Exit Opens Ohio State Roster Spot for Towns

Harvard graduate transfer from Columbus would have two seasons remaining

The nice thing about the inside lane is it affords a shorter route to the finish line, but the inside lane is not the finish line and there's always someone striving to overtake the occupant.

Ohio State well knows that now that Duke is the pursuer of its preferential position in the chase for Harvard graduate transfer Seth Towns.

There's a lot to love about the 6-7, 215-pound Towns:

• He will be immediately eligible to play next season.

• He will be only a junior in eligibility, and thus have two years remaining.

• He possesses a lethal three-point shooting touch.

• He's a former Ivy League player-of-the-year.

• He's a Columbus native, having played at Northland High School, where he's the leading career scorer in front of both Jared Sullinger and Trey Burke.

All that paints a flawless scenario for Towns' return to his home town, since the OSU coach whose scholarship offer he turned down was Thad Matta, not Chris Holtmann.

Making my decision this week

— Seth Towns (@219setty) March 17, 2020

But then....Duke.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski is a recruiting force to be reckoned with and a proven developer of NBA talent.

How much Amaker, who played for Krzyzewski, would enhance or detract from Towns' chances of picking Duke is unknown.

Duke has no scholarships available at present, but Ohio State does because of D.J. Carton's entry into the Transfer Portal.

OSU is also expected to lose Alonzo Gaffney and Kaleb Wesson.

Towns has missed each of the past two seasons trying to rehabilitate and return from a left knee injury he suffered at the end of his sophomore season.

And what a sophomore season that was.

Towns averaged 16 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and shot 63-of -143 (44.1%) on three-pointers to make unanimous first-team All-Ivy League and win conference POY.

That skill set sounds pretty similar to an accomplished transfer Matta chased and thought he had a solid chance of getting in 2012, only to have Rodney Hood choose Duke at the last second.

Similarly, Ohio State's competition for Towns appeared to be Kansas and Virginia before Krzyzewski began pursuit of him and another Ivy League grad transfer, Yale's Jordan Bruner.

Because Towns and Bruner have their undergraduate degrees, they are no longer allowed to play basketball in the Ivy League.

Holtmann also has room for another graduate transfer and Harvard point guard Bryce Aiken would fit nicely in to the spot Carton vacated. Aiken, who averaged 16.7 points in the seven games he played this season before a season-ending injury, averaged 22.2 points in 2018-19.

Holtmann has an enviable track record with graduate transfers to market, having gotten production from Andrew Dakich in 2018 and Keyshawn Woods in 2019.

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