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DAYTON, Ohio — The old man of the First Four does not mind mentioning his age. Take for instance when the Howard players were asked at their press conference Monday about their experience in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
“I wasn’t here last year,” Seth Towns reminded, and then nodded toward his teammate sitting next to him. “Bryce (Harris) is the one who was the seasoned vet. In that context at least. Clearly, I’m 26 years old.”
That’s not just seasoned, that’s well done. March is made for stories such as Seth Towns, who will be on the floor Tuesday night when Howard and Wagner stage the first act of March Madness. This is his eighth year since he graduated from high school. That’s no typo. Eight. He was a college freshman in 2016. So was Jayson Tatum. Tatum has now been named to five NBA All-Star teams. Towns is taking one more crack at the NCAA tournament, a graduate student and then some. “I’ve been to a lot of places . . . “ he began one answer Monday. And he’s not kidding.
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Towns started at Harvard and was on the court for two seasons, being named Ivy League player of the year as a sophomore. “In a lot of ways,” he said of Harvard, “it feels forever ago.” Then came two years as a medical redshirt because of knee injuries. Then he transferred to Ohio State where he played in 2020-21, back in his hometown of Columbus. He had six rebounds off the bench the day the No. 2 seed Buckeyes were upset in the 2021 NCAA tournament by No. 15 Oral Roberts. Then another medical redshirt year because of a back injury. Last season he stepped away from the game to ponder his future, decided to transfer to Howard, and now here he is, averaging 14 points and nearly seven rebounds coming into the tournament, only five years younger than Branch McCracken was when he led Indiana to the 1940 national championship, the youngest coach to ever do it.
The question is why? Why keep coming back?
“Passion. I don’t know what much else to say outside of that,” Towns said Monday outside the locker room before heading out to practice. “I love basketball, it’s in my DNA, it’s in my bloodstream. Knowing that there was still a chance . . .”
The return for chapter 8, in yet another place, was not a decision he made lightly. He is a thoughtful young man, an English major from the Ivy League who loves to play chess. “It was a period of extreme reckoning,” he said of the year away. “I have never been away from the game before last year. Trying to figure out how to move forward was really interesting. It was a challenge I never had. When basketball is such a big part of your identity it’s hard to try and figure out in a moment’s notice how to break away from that.
“You have to encounter these situations with maturity and be realistic with yourself. Looking at my situation for exactly what it was, I knew there was a chance I could still play. With that out there and just the rest of my life being in front of me I wasn’t ready (to walk away from basketball). More than anything my passion led me forward.”
The Bison are happy where his passion led. Towns is a big reason they’re here. “He’s priceless to our program, the type of impact he’s had in this short amount of time,” Harris said. “I feel like a lot of people on our team ask him questions, even though he hasn’t been on this team. He’s seen a lot of basketball. But there are some funny parts, too. We gig him a lot for being older, you know what I’m saying? Sometimes we’ll be on the court and he’ll do something that’s a highlight play or something like that, we scream `Yeah, Unc. Yeah, Unc.”
And there are days Towns feels like Uncle Seth.
“I get to practice significantly earlier than anyone, I leave significantly later because I have to get tons of treatment. I definitely feel a lot older than these guys in a lot of ways. It’s just a different way I can contribute to the team,” he said. “We’re all in this together in this team culture environment thing. They’re kind of like brothers. Any way that I can be of help, with wisdom or be an example in any way, I like to lend myself to that kind of service.”
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His decision, then, hit the jackpot. He gets another dose of March, back in his native Ohio. “I’m in the O, I’m playing in the tournament. I don’t think you could have written this any better. I will have people here tomorrow. They will be rowdy, so prepare for that. And yeah, let’s get this thing done.”
Journeys like his hit the national radar screen as a big blip once the tournament begins. A lot of people out there who couldn’t find Howard on a map — Washington, D.C., if you’re wondering — are learning about Seth Towns.
“My mom is getting a huge kick out of this,” he said. “It’s fun because my mom’s having the time of her life.”