Indiana University Columbus will have its first men’s basketball team next winter Ethan Silcox will be part of that team.

Silcox, who graduated from Seymour High School on Sunday, signed a letter of intent to play for the Crimson Pride with his Seymour basketball teammates looking on in the SHS cafeteria on Monday.

“Going to IU Columbus was a pretty easy decision,” he said. “I visited a bunch of different schools, I visited one in Wisconsin, and I went to Manchester, but this was the easiest one because it is back in my hometown, close to family and friends, and this will be their inaugural year.”

Silcox said he will be playing a shooting guard for the Pride. He said his role will be pretty much the same as it was for Seymour, “except I will have to guard much bigger guys. It will be a lot more intense.”

The 6-3 Silcox said, “I will definitely have to work on my ball-handling this summer, and I’ve got to pick up my intensity on defense.” He also said he must be able to relax better on the court and withstand pressure from opposing teams.

Owls Coach Kirk Manns said,” I’m really happy for him and getting an opportunity to go on and play basketball, but I’m thrilled he is continuing his education. I’m happy about that and look forward to what he can accomplish.

“I know when he was here, he continued to improve as a young man, and as a basketball player, year in and year out. I expect that to happen as he goes into the next year here. It’s an exciting time, this is a new program, in their inaugural season at IU Columbus and he gets to be a part of that, so I think that is a pretty neat thing.”

Silcox was the Owls’ sixth man last winter.

Manns said, “He provided that spark. We’ve been fortunate over the last couple years. We had a really good team a couple of years ago and Andrew Levine was able to fill that role, and Ethan was that guy. Ethan could shoot the ball from the perimeter, he could take the ball to the basket, he could get up above the rim and he could do a lot of different things.

“Even though he was a sixth man coming in, he was a “starter’, and you can only start five so we fortunate to have him in that role for us, giving us that spark when we needed it.

“I think he can contribute (at Columbus) absolutely. He knows his weaknesses and those types of things. He is still growing into his body, and he needs to get stronger, and he needs to continue to improve his skill level and when those two things happen, I don’t think there is any doubt”

Silcox said, “The most I enjoyed about playing for the Owls was definitely number of hours we spent as a team together just making jokes, making each-other laugh while we were still grinding, making progress.”

He said he enjoyed helping the team win 18 games last winter when he averaged 6 points per game and shot 73 percent at the free-throw line and 44 percent from the field.

His highest scoring was 14 points against Whiteland.

“Some of the biggest wins were Jeffersonville during the season, Floyd Central because we won the conference that night, and the one I liked the most was Columbus North, because I transferred from Columbus North,” he said.

“I just enjoy all the connections with all my teammates. It’s like a big bond, a big family. I like how we can all come together, and no matter how packed the gym can get, we can ignore the outside and just focus on us

“If you miss a shot, you’ve got to go back and play defense and forget about it, you cannot let one shot ruin your whole night. That is what my teammates said to me at halftime because I definitely had a couple rough first halves and definitely came out and picked it up in the second half through their encouragement, and I’m grateful for getting it done.”

He expressed his gratitude to the Seymour coaches and teammates for all they did for him as a member of the basketball team.