Syracuse Basketball: Grad transfer Seth Towns is considering the Orange

Syracuse basketball is apparently among the half-dozen schools in the running for talented forward Seth Towns, a graduate transfer from Harvard.

Syracuse basketball currently has 13 scholarship players and no seniors on its roster, but the Orange still could welcome in some new faces in the 2020-21 campaign.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello sent out these tweets that Seth Towns, a graduate transfer from Harvard, is considering the ‘Cuse along with five other heavyweights. They are Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State and Virginia. That’s extremely stiff competition to land the services of the 6-foot-7 forward, whose hometown is Columbus, Ohio.

Towns hasn’t suited up for the last two stanzas due to an injury, so even as a grad transfer he will possess two years of eligibility left, reports Ben Burrows of Syracuse.com.

In the 2017-18 term, Towns received the Ivy League Player of the Year award, when he collected 16.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest while averaging 27.9 minutes a game. He connected on 41.9 percent from the field, 44.1 percent from beyond the arc and 80.5 percent from the charity stripe.

During his two seasons with the Crimson, Harvard posted an overall mark of 36-24 and captured the Ivy League’s 2018 regular-campaign title, says this announcement.

A three-star prospect who attended Northland High School in Columbus, Towns got listed nationally at No. 129 in the class of 2016 on the 247Sports Web site. He seemed to previously hold scholarship offers from a handful of crews, including Dayton, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, Virginia Tech and Xavier.

Besides Towns, the Orange appears in the mix for another grad transfer, Patrick Tape from Columbia. The 6-foot-10 power forward/center visited the Central New York campus at the beginning of February when the ‘Cuse hosted Duke.

Tape, who as a junior in 2018-19 generated 11.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per meeting, recently told Burrows in a separate article that should Syracuse star forward Elijah Hughes elect to leave the Hill after his redshirt junior term, that could prove concerning. Conversely, if the Orange gets a commitment from Towns, that’s a plus.

"“If they can get someone like Seth Towns or someone similar, or if someone on the team steps up, I would definitely be interested in that,” Tape said to Burrows."

A one-two grad-transfer punch of Tape and Towns is intriguing, but by no means is it anything more than a possibility. For this to potentially happen, the present ‘Cuse line-up will have to undergo some changes.

As we already noted, Syracuse has 13 scholarship guys in 2019-20, and only graduate student Shaun Belbey is guaranteed to depart. A pair of 2020 recruits, Kadary Richmond and Woody Newton, will arrive this fall.

So to add Tape, Towns, or both of them, then other roster space is required. Hughes could bolt for the pros. Sophomore guard Buddy Boeheim could come off of scholarship. And it’s feasible that one or two existing Orange players could decide to move to a different program. I’m keenly excited to watch how this all shakes out!