Boston College Completes Trio of Graduate Transfers with Lehigh’s James Karnik

Jim Christian added a third graduate transfer to his 2020-2021 squad today in James Karnik, per Jeff Goodman (and confirmed by Karnik retweeting him). Karnik, a 6’9”, 225 pound F/C joins the Eagles from Lehigh. He put up a 12/7/1 line last year and will be eligible immediately.

Karnik missed 10 games of the 2020 season due to an ankle injury, but his stats made him the 14th best scorer and 7th best rebounder in the Patriot League (though he technically didn’t have enough games to qualify). He’s an old school big (he took 9 threes in his career so far), and definitely looks to have a presence down low. He’s also improved a ton each year in college, a trend which JC no doubt hopes will continue.

What does it all actually mean for the Eagles? Hard to say. Statistically, he looks like he’ll contribute a lot on the inside of the defense. He averaged 2 steals and blocks per year and a 4% block-percentage. But that’s reflective of Karnik playing center on Lehigh’s roster; his height could limit him in ACC play if Jim Christian views him as a full time center (which the Eagles severely need, given that the only other options are Luka Kraljevic and incoming freshman Justin Vander Baan). I’d expect him to split time at the 5 when the Eagles run small ball lineups this year (which I think they’ll run a lot of) with Steffon Mitchell.

For the rest of lineup, I think it cements Frederick Scott and CJ Felder at the forward positions (simply on account of size), while the guard lineups should remain unchanged.

We’ll do more analysis after some film review, but for now: Welcome to the Heights, James!