Tag: Seth Towns

Chris Holtmann releases statement on Seth Towns’ detainment during George Floyd protest

Ohio State basketball head coach Chris Holtmann released a statement of support for incoming player Seth Towns Saturday.

We’ve already heard from Ohio State incoming grad transfer forward Seth Towns himself, and now we’ve got a statement from his new head coach Chris Holtmann stemming from Towns’ detainment Friday night in downtown Columbus.

The news came as a result of Towns being held briefly by the Columbus police for reportedly not moving when asked to do so at a peaceful George Floyd protest. There were no charges and Towns was not arrested, but released.

Now, Chris Holtmann has released a statement through the Ohio State Hoops Twitter profile in support of his player. Below is the complete release shared Saturday night.

I for one, and proud of this kid for peacefully standing up for the violation of civil rights and racial inequality, and hopefully you are too.

WATCH: Seth Towns speaks out on racial inequality after being detained by Columbus police in wake of George Floyd protest

In the wake of being detained, Ohio State basketball’s Seth Towns released a statement speaking out on the racial divide in this country.

Incoming Ohio State basketball graduate transfer Seth Towns had an awfully eventful last 24 hours. He graduated virtually from Harvard, then went straight to a peaceful protest that was held because of the needless and senseless death of George Floyd.

There — in downtown Columbus — he was detained by the police for reportedly not moving when asked to do so. He was not charged with a crime and was not arrested.

Towns took to Twitter Saturday with a message in response to the divide in this country and what he experienced Friday night. We’ve got the video he shared, but underneath that video is the complete transcript as well.

This should make you proud to have such a young man on the OSU basketball team.

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“My name is Seth Towns. In a span of just 24 hours, I walked from a virtual Harvard graduation stagento the back of a police van — both of which, I am equally proud of,” said Towns. “I, with so many others, met in downtown Columbus, Ohio to peacefully protest the murder of George Floyd, and the long list of others who are failed by this country to fight for justice at the face of inequity, and to express our pain. True voice is not found in words spoken but in steps taken. These hurtful times call for us to come together and unite our voices to be true and fearless in our expression of compassion, and take steps to create the change we seek — the change we need. The world needs to know that we are hurting. To those that are silent, speak up, use your voice. For one that fails to act on his truth is no one at all. And for those that are (speaking up), keep going. I’m right there with you.”

Such a mature young man. If basketball doesn’t work out we might be seeing Towns as an important figure in the fight against racial equality somewhere down the line.

 

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Tommy Amaker issues statement on Seth Towns’ protest and detainment

Harvard coach Tommy Amaker released a statement of support on Ohio State’s Seth Towns’ protest and detainment over the George Floyd tragedy.

By now, you likely know that incoming Ohio State basketball grad transfer Seth Towns was detained by the Columbus police department Friday night as a result of a peaceful protest resulting from the tragic death of George Floyd.

Reaction has been swift, and one in particular person that knows Towns well came to the defense of his actions. His former coach at Harvard, Tommy Amaker, spoke out about the incident in a release that was shared by the university.

“I am aware that recent graduate Seth Towns was detained last night at a rally in Columbus, Ohio,” said Amaker. I fully support, and am proud of, Seth in his continued fight for social justice, a cause that has been near and dear to his heart since he arrived on campus four years ago. We, as a program, always encourage our players in their efforts to stand up for their beliefs and for what is right.”

“I also want to express my condolences and heartbreak for all of those impacted by George Floyd’s senseless death. Let’s demonstrate support and empathy for all communities impacted — specifically communities of color, and the many women and men in law enforcement who do protect and serve honorably and with respect. This is a very challenging time for our country. We need unity now more than ever.”

Below is the Tweet from Harvard with Amaker’s statement. And we can’t agree more.

 

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Ohio State basketball transfers get their jersey numbers

Ohio State basketball announced the jersey numbers of transfers Seth Towns, Abel Porter, and Jimmy Sotos Monday.

It’s been a year of transition for the Ohio State basketball roster. Gone are the Wesson brothers. In addition, talented freshmen Alonzo Gaffney and D.J. Carton left the program after just one season in Columbus. In the case of Gaffney, he is reportedly looking at professional options, while Carton transferred to Marquette.

Because of the departures, head coach Chris Holtmann and staff had to fill some holes with non-traditional methods. He went after some transfers and landed three of them. And now, all three have their jersey numbers according to a release on Twitter Monday.

That’s right. The trio of Seth Towns, Abel Porter, and Jimmy Sotos can now begin advertising to family and friends what they’ll be performing athletic feats in on the banks of the Olentangy.

Seth Towns is a Columbus native that went to Harvard to get smarter. He is a graduate transfer and will have two years of eligibility left. He was the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2018 and will wear No. 31, the same digits he paraded around in with the Crimson.

Abel Porter will come to Ohio State from Utah State as another graduate transfer with just one year remaining. He can practice drawing the No. 0, which is a lot like drawing a circle, so all good there. He wore the No. 15 as an Aggie.

Lastly, Jimmy Sotos is on his way from Bucknell as an undergraduate transfer. He’ll have to sit out one year unless he gets a waiver from the NCAA before he dons the number numero uno. As a bison, he ran around in the No. 4.

 

Ohio State basketball officially announces addition of Seth Towns

The Ohio State basketball program officially announced the addition of Harvard graduate transfer Seth Towns on Tuesday.

It’s been reported, and even Seth Towns himself has confirmed it, but now we have the official announcement from the folks with the Ohio State basketball program. Harvard transfer Seth Towns has now officially been introduced as a Buckeye.

The announcement came Tuesday via Ohio State basketball’s official Twitter page and showed Towns worked up by the creative team in an OSU uniform. There’s also a release on the Buckeyes official athletic website.

“We are excited about the addition of Seth to our program,” Holtmann said in a statement. “Seth is skilled, versatile, has outstanding shooting ability and fits perfectly with our returning group of players. His maturity has been apparent in spending time getting to know him and how he has dealt with his injury. Seth comes from an excellent, well-coached program in Harvard. We really look forward to getting Seth to campus with his future teammates!”

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Seth should already feel quite at home. The 6-foot, 7-inch power forward grew up in Columbus and played for, and graduated from, Northland High School before heading off to Harvard to play for the Crimson.

He played two years at Harvard before knee injuries forced him to take the last couple of years off to get healthy. During his sophomore season, Towns was an honorable-mention All-American and Ivy League Player of the Year. He averaged 16 points and 5.7 rebounds while making 44 percent from 3-point range (63-143).

As long as he’s healthy, Towns should make a pretty big splash for Ohio State next season.

 

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Revisiting and projecting the Ohio State basketball 2020-2021 lineup

Ohio State had a ton over roster turnover from last season. We are revisiting and reprojecting what the 2020-2021 lineup might look like.

The Ohio State basketball season came to an abrupt end because of the coronavirus measures put in place, so that leaves us no choice but to look ahead to next year. This season feels a lot like an unfinished story with some ups and downs, a little drama and a cliff-hanger, but that’s what we’re left with.

Part of the drama came after the season with the decisions of freshmen D.J. Carton and Alonzo Gaffney. But we also had a couple of veterans leave the team with the surprising transfer decision of Luther Muhammad, and the announcement to enter the NBA draft by Kaleb Wesson. Those have now been offset with the addition of graduate transfers Seth Towns, and Abel Porter. The program also got an undergraduate transfer decision from Bucknell’s Jimmy Sotos, but he won’t be available until the following season. That now puts the Buckeyes back to the thirteen scholarship limit — back where it needs to be for the 2020-2021 season.

We projected what the OSU roster would look like a few weeks ago, but with so many changes recently, it’s worth going through the exercise one more time. Let’s hope nothing else changes.

So here we go. Here’s the projected lineup for Ohio State basketball for the 2020-2021 season once again, way ahead of time, but with a ton of new information that came out of the blue.

Next … Ohio State likely starting five

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Ohio State Basketball: Projecting the 2020-2021 starting lineup

The season has completed prematurely for the Ohio State basketball team. Time to project the starting five and key reserves for next year.

The Ohio State basketball season came to an abrupt end because of the coronavirus measures put in place, so that leaves us no choice but to look ahead to next year. This season feels a lot like an unfinished story with some ups and downs, a little drama, and a cliff-hanger, but that’s what we’re left with.

Part of the drama came after the season with the departures of freshmen D.J. Carton and Alonzo Gaffney. That was offset a bit with the addition of graduate transfer Seth Towns, and that leaves the Buckeyes with thirteen scholarships — right where it needs to be for the 2020-2021 season.

What better time to look at what the projected lineup could be this winter when it appears everything is much more solidified. There’s still word on what Kaleb Wesson will do as far as the NBA draft, but we’ll make a guess on that too.

So here we go. Here’s the projected lineup for Ohio State basketball for the 2020-2021 season, way ahead of time.

Next … Ohio State likely starting five

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Watch: Seth Towns tells SportsCenter why Ohio State was the perfect fit for him

Harvard grad transfer Seth Towns picked Ohio State over Duke. Listen to why coming to Columbus was the right choice for him.

The Ohio State basketball program got a shot in the arm when Harvard graduate transfer and Columbus native Seth Towns announced his decision this weekend to transfer to the Buckeyes instead of Duke. It was especially noteworthy on the heels of both D.J. Carton and Alonzo Gaffney deciding to leave the program to pursue other opportunities after just one season.

Towns’ decision though didn’t come out of the blue. He was a graduate of Northland High School in Columbus and visited Ohio State during his recruitment back in 2014 and 2015. He even landed an offer from Thad Matta and staff at that time but decided to head to the Ivy League school Harvard instead. There he became a star, but also dealt with injuries that kept him away from the game since the tail-end of the 2017 season.

But why now? Why is Ohio State the right place for him at this point in his career? Especially after playing for Harvard, and after being courted by several big-time programs this offseason, including Duke?

Towns answered that very question during the segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter when he announced his decision to attend OSU.

“In the end, what was the deciding factor,” asked SportsCenter’s John Buccigross? “Why Ohio State in the end?”

“Well, I think overall it was a perfect fit,” said Towns. “I mean across the board, being at home, the school, my relationship with coaches I mentioned before. And then, some really incredible teammates I’ll have that I’m excited to play alongside. Super excited to play for Ohio State. You know, Buckeye Nation, just know how excited I am, and additionally the support system I’ll have coming to Ohio State — coming home.”

You can watch and listen to the quick segment that aired just a couple of days ago by clicking on the below video.

Sounds like a pretty sound decision to me. Towns should plug right into the mix next season and has a very good shot at cracking that starting five. We’ll see how it all transpires when things begin to take shape this winter.

 

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Grad transfer Seth Towns to announce decision between Ohio State and Duke tonight

Harvard graduate transfer Seth Towns will reportedly be announcing his decision between Duke and Ohio State tonight on SportsCenter.

We’ve been on the Seth Towns watch now all week after he announced his intention of deciding his transfer destination this week via Twitter. It now appears as though we’ll know where the nation’s No. 1 rated transfer will be headed before the clock strikes midnight Saturday.

According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the 6-foot, 7-inch power forward from Columbus will make his decision known for all the world sometime tonight. In fact, further information from 270Hoops has confirmed that he will be announcing between Ohio State and Duke at 11 PM Eastern on SportsCenter.

Towns was the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2017 but has been befallen by injury since. If he’s healthy, he provides a stretch four that has great length and sneaky smooth moves to the rim. He can also step out and bomb away from long range.

Duke has expressed serious interest at the eleventh hour, but with Columbus being his hometown, Ohio State has been thought to be the leader to land his services. Anytime the Blue Devils are in on it, you just never know though.

Towns has the type of skill set that fits any program, but it would be a huge get for Ohio State to add another versatile player that can plug into one of many positions on the court and be effective as a scoring threat at multiple spots on the floor.

We’ll have his decision once it is announced later tonight.

 

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Harvard graduate transfer Seth Towns to choose between Ohio State and Duke

Columbus native Seth Towns will choose to continue his basketball career at either Ohio State or Duke. A decision should come this week.

Harvard’s Seth Towns is a wanted man when it comes to schools looking to add a graduate transfer. Widely considered the No. 1 option as a transfer available, he was inundated with interest when he placed his name in the transfer portal just a few short weeks ago.

It now appears as though the Columbus native has been able to cull that list down to just two schools according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. One of them is blue blood Duke, the other is the hometown Ohio State Buckeyes. That’s right — OSU is trying to pry away a very talented basketball player away from the Blue Devils and Coach K.

That may sound like it’s far fetched, but the fact that Towns has whittled his list down to two means he is seriously considering both. That should mean OSU has a legitimate shot here especially considering he is a graduate of Northland High School, and since OSU was thought to be the front-runner all along.

Still, having Duke come calling at reportedly the eleventh hour has to have him intrigued, and at this point, there’s at least a very good shot that Towns decides to head to Durham to continue his career.

A 6-foot-7-inches and 215-pounds, Towns was the Ivy League Player of the Year for the 2017-2018 season, but has struggled with getting back on the court after a knee injury suffered at the tail end of the 2018 season.

If he is truly healthy and can be anywhere near the player he was, getting his 16 points and almost six rebounds a game would be a great addition for Ohio State and Chris Holtmann.

Many programs have been awaiting his decision ever since he Tweeted out his intention of picking a school this week, so the news could come at any time.

As soon as it happens, we’ll have the news.