WSPN’s Ben Jackson and Bowen Morrison weigh in on the NCAA’s loose guidelines regarding college athletes and the length of their careers.
For the second consecutive year, the Howard University Bison men’s basketball team has qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men’s basketball tournament, March Madness. This year, 26-year-old college basketball player Seth Towns played his seventh season of basketball at Howard University. Towns may not have been a standout player at Howard, but his performance has college basketball fans questioning the fairness of NCAA eligibility rules. These complaints are certainly valid, and we have to agree with the fans.
Towns played his first season of college basketball at Harvard University in 2016-2017 at age 19. That season, Towns averaged 12.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Towns’ sophomore season at Harvard was his breakout season as a basketball player. Towns averaged 16.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 44.1% from the 3-point line.
Towns was named to the All-Ivy League First Team, Ivy League Player of the Year, and Associated Press All-America honors. It was clear that Towns was a great athlete by Ivy League standards. Towns missed the entire 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons (medical redshirt seasons) due to knee surgery. A medical redshirt is when a college player is dropped a year due to injury.
Towns graduated from Harvard University at age 22 with a degree in English and planned to leave basketball behind. However, Towns chose to enter the transfer portal before enrolling at Ohio State University (OSU). He was also granted a medical redshirt season by the NCAA during his junior season. While we believe a redshirt season can be justified in some cases, if an athlete continues too long in their college career, the NCAA should step in and create guidelines for players who are too old to be considered college athletes.
At Ohio State, Towns appeared in just 25 games and averaged 3.8 points. In the offseason, Towns was once again plagued by injuries, forcing him to undergo back surgery and miss the 2021-22 season. After a lengthy discussion, Towns announced on social media that he would be stepping away from basketball until his back was fully healed and would miss the 2022-23 season as well. It was clear that Towns was no longer the basketball player he was in 2016, his debut season at Harvard.
After his back is fully healed, Towns has elected to enroll at Howard University and play for the Bisons in 2023 for what will technically be his senior season. Towns was one of the key players that helped Howard reach the tournament. This season, Towns averaged 14.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Towns seems to be back on track now after a few years of decline. However, seeing his performance improve, it leaves me wondering if it is fair for a player like Seth Towns, now 26 years old, to continue his career in college basketball. Towns may have only technically played four seasons, but he still had access to college facilities, coaching and training for over seven years, while other players usually only have access for four years. That’s a three-year difference, and I don’t think it’s fair for a player like Towns to have such a big advantage over other players. Especially now that college players can make millions of dollars through NIL contracts, it’s even more likely that up-and-coming players will try to follow the same path as Towns in order to extend their careers and make as much money as possible. The NCAA needs to address this issue and establish specific rules regarding player eligibility before it gets too serious.
