NCAA Basketball: Top 10 players to wear jersey No. 31 in 2023-24 season

1. Seth Towns (Howard)

As insane as it sounds, Towns was the Ivy League Player of the Year back in 2018 and yes he was still playing college hoops this past season. He spent four seasons at Harvard, starring as an underclassman before missing a pair of seasons with injury issues. After a year as a bench piece at Ohio State, he’d miss two more seasons before getting back on the court at Howard this season. Fortunately, a college career that began seven years prior got back on track.

Towns put up impressive numbers with the Bison, averaging 14.2 points and 6.5 rebounds a game while making 35% of his 3-pointers. He wasn’t the same type of shooter as with the Crimson, but was finally healthy and contributing on the basketball court again. Most importantly, Towns helped lead Howard to a 2nd place finish in the MEAC and then a conference tournament crown, getting himself a trip to the Big Dance. It’s a season that also saw him take home Third Team All-MEAC and All-Defense honors.

Towns wasted no time getting settled in by scoring 26 points in a November win at Mount St. Mary’s before 27 points in a loss to Cincinnati. He was a regular double-digit scorer during MEAC play, emerging as one of the Bison’s top offensive players. He played well during the MEAC Tournament, including 16 points and 8 rebounds against Delaware State in the title game before his long collegiate career came to an end in the NCAA Tournament against Wagner.