Duke basketball coaches show interest in sharpshooting grad transfer

The makeup of the 2020-21 Duke basketball roster will likely remain a mystery for quite some time, but one potent scorer from another program could end up on it.

A 2018 injury has kept Harvard’s Seth Towns out of competition across the past two seasons, but that apparently hasn’t kept the Duke basketball staff from recently reaching out to the 6-foot-7, 215-pound small forward, who recently put his name in the grad-transfer market.

According to a Wednesday tweet from CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein, the Crimson captain under former Duke basketball great and current Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker said he’s “receiving interest” from the Blue Devils. Towns, who would immediately become eligible and have two years of eligibility remaining, averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists before falling to injury at the end of his sophomore campaign.

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Per John Feinstein of The Washington Post, Towns has undergone multiple surgeries to repair torn cartilage in his left knee.

Though the addition of five-star recruit Jalen Johnson and the presumed return of small forwards Wendell Moore and Joey Baker makes one wonder why the interest exists — someone would no doubt receive minimal playing time as a result — what Mike Krzyzewski is likely thinking is that Towns’ 3-point stroke is a weapon he’d just assume have on his side.

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After knocking down 38 of his 98 attempts (38.8 percent) from downtown as a freshman, Towns went an uber-impressive 63-for-143 (44.1 percent) the next season; plus, he has made more than 80 percent of his free throws for his career.

The Ohio native also possesses top-shelf handles, and he exhibits the ability to control the pace when the ball is in his hands — albeit against Ivy League competition.

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Towns, a three-star out of high school who ranked No. 129 on the 247Sports 2016 Composite, is also seeing interest from the likes of Kansas, Maryland, Ohio State, Michigan, Virginia, etc. Yet he cannot take any visits right now due to the NCAA’s decision to halt such activities over coronavirus concerns.

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