Where Are They Now?
Updates on the (now) 12 players that have entered the transfer portal from BC men's basketball during the Jim Christian era.
On Sunday, it was reported that Boston College men’s basketball freshman guard Julian Rishwain was transferring to San Francisco, just five days after he entered his name in the transfer portal. That made him, astonishingly, the 12th player recruited by Jim Christian to Boston College that has either already transferred or currently has their name in the transfer portal. It’s a pretty eclectic group of names who have had varying degrees of success since leaving the Eagles. Just for fun, here’s a look at what each of Christian’s former recruits have done since departing Chestnut Hill.
Idy Diallo: Transferred to University of California Riverside
Diallo was offered a scholarship by BC just three weeks after Christian left his job at Ohio to come coach the Eagles. A 6-foot-11 power forward, Diallo never made much of an impact for BC. After redshirting his freshman season due to injury, Diallo averaged just 1.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in 2015-16 for the Eagles. In fact, the only category he ever filled up the stat sheet in was fouls. He somehow committed 65 fouls in just 302 total minutes of action. For those counting at home, that’s a foul every 4.64 minutes of game action. Perhaps most impressively, Diallo fouled out in just nine minutes in his first college game against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Diallo left BC following the 2015-16 season and transferred to U-C Riverside, where he averaged 2.6 points per game in 11 minutes in his lone season of play as a redshirt junior. If you’re wondering, his fouling problems got worse. In 2017-18, he committed 73 fouls in 297 minutes—or one every 4.06 minutes.
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins: Transferred to Odessa Junior College
Barnes-Thompkins was another recruit from Christian’s first season, and he came with a solid pedigree. Rated the third-best shooting guard in Arizona by 247 Sports, he chose to attend BC after decommitting from St. Johns. In his lone season with the Eagles he flashed some potential multiple times, most notably scoring 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the penultimate game of the season against Georgia Tech. Ultimately, however, Barnes-Thompkins ended the season averaging just 5.5 points per game on 38.7 percent shooting.
Like Diallo, Barnes-Thompkins left the team following the 2015-16 season. He transferred to Odessa, a junior college in Texas, where he played the 2016-17 campaign before taking two years off of basketball. Before the 2019-20 campaign, though, he enrolled at New Mexico Highlands and proceeded to light it up. He finished the season averaging 25.0 points per game, and shot 39.7 percent from behind the arc. Somehow, according to the New Mexico Highlands athletics website profile of him, he still has one season of eligibility left.
Matt Milon: Transferred to William and Mary
Milon was yet another of the 2015-16 freshmen that left after one season with the team. In his lone campaign with the Eagles, he showcased an ability to light it up from deep, hitting 49.4 percent of his 79 attempts. He only started three of BC’s 30 games, however, and left for William and Mary, where he played two seasons—averaging exactly 13.0 points per game in both—before playing his final season as a graduate transfer at Central Florida in 2019-20.
Ty Graves: Transferred to Saint Louis
Ky Bowman turned out to be such a great player (and great story) for the Eagles that it’s easy to forget about the other point guard in his recruiting class: Ty Graves. In fact, in his very first game Graves easily outplayed Bowman, scoring 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting against Nicholls State, while Bowman finished with just four points. That was as good as it got in a BC uniform for Graves, who saw his minutes steadily decrease throughout the semester before he left for Saint Louis. Graves left the Billikens without playing a single game for them and found a new home at North Carolina Central. Before the 2019-20 season was cut short due to coronavirus, he appeared in 31 games for the Eagles, starting 11. He still has one season of eligibility left.
AJ Turner: Transferred to Northwestern
Yet another prospect that BC fans had high hopes for, Turner was rated the fourth-best prospect in Michigan for the class of 2015, and chose to attend BC over Michigan State and Florida State, among others. Like some of the other players on this list, however, Turner never quite performed up to billing in his two seasons with the Eagles. In 2016-17 as a sophomore, he shot a respectable 42.4 percent from the field, but averaged just 8.4 points per game.
After the year ended, Turner switched schools, moving to Northwestern, where he played his final two seasons of eligibility. He never quite lived up to his recruiting status in Evanston either, though, scoring just under seven points per contest in two seasons with the Wildcats despite playing nearly 27 minutes per game.
Mike Sagay: Transferred to IUPUI
Sagay played four sports in high school, and headed to BC as the fifth-best prospect in Connecticut. He appeared in 15 games in 2016-17 as a freshman, and appeared poised for a much bigger role in 2017-18, but just days before the season began he decided to transfer, taking his talents to IUPUI. He never appeared in a game for the Jaguars, instead moving to Division III Saint Joseph’s in Connecticut, which is coached by former Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun. He is no longer on the men’s basketball roster, but played one season there—the 2018-19 campaign—and now holds the program single-game scoring record thanks to a 36-point performance against Green Mountain.
Avery Wilson: Transferred to Southeastern Louisiana
Wilson was a part of BC’s 2017 recruiting class, but saw limited action as a freshman and sophomore before deciding to transfer following the 2018-19 campaign. He now is enrolled at Southeastern Louisiana, but sat out the 2019-20 season due to transfer rules.
Vin Baker Jr.: Transferred to Milwaukee
The son of former NBA player Vin Baker, Baker Jr. was another member of the 2017 recruiting class. In two seasons with the Eagles, he did appear in 41 games, and scored a career-high 11 points in a road win at Pittsburgh in 2017-18. But his role decreased significantly in 2018-19, and he transferred to Milwaukee after the season ended. Like Wilson, he sat out the 2019-20 season due to transfer rules.
Johncarlos Reyes: Transferred to Nevada
The fourth member of BC’s 2015 recruiting class, Reyes actually stayed in Chestnut Hill longer than any of the other players on this list. He appeared in four different seasons for the Eagles—though he played just seven games in 2015-16 before redshirting with a foot injury. In 2018-19, his last season with the program, he played just over six minutes per contest, but scored a career-high 15 points against Wyoming in BC’s third game of the season.
In 2019-20, as a graduate transfer, he played for Nevada, shooting a solid 55 percent from the field and started 30 games for the Wolfpack.
Jairus Hamilton: Transferred to Maryland
Hamilton enrolled at BC as the Eagles’ first ESPN Top-100 recruit since Craig Smith in 2002. After a so-so freshman season, he took a step forward in 2019-20, increasing his scoring output from 5.6 to 9.5 points per game and showcasing an expanded offensive repertoire. He was supposed to be part of a talented core returning for BC in 2020-21, but instead put his name in the transfer portal last week and committed to Maryland Wednesday morning. He’ll likely sit out the 2020-21 season, but joins a Terrapins squad that finished the year 24-7 and was a lock to make the NCAA Tournament before the season was cancelled.
Julian Rishwain: Transferred to San Francisco
After one season with the Eagles, the Sherman Oaks, California native reportedly moved back to the West Coast to continue his college career. Rishwain showcased some playmaking ability in his lone season at BC, but struggled to provide a consistent offensive presence. He finished the season shooting just 31.4 percent from the floor and 33 percent from deep. Unless Rishwain gets a waiver, he’ll have to sit out the 2020-21 season.
Chris Herren Jr.: Transfer Portal
Herren Jr. announced after the conclusion of the 2019-20 season that he was putting his name in the transfer portal. As of now, his destination is currently unknown.
Graphic by Bradley Smart, Images Courtesy of Nevada, William & Mary, and Northwestern