Lindside – Shad Sauvage had made up his mind about where he was going to play college basketball.
In fact he was days away from announcing.
But then a call came from Alice Lloyd College, asking if he’d come on a visit. On the way to the Kentucky school he almost turned around.
“I was planning on making my decision about a month ago and it was actually that week,” Sauvage said. “Alice Lloyd contacted us for a visit and we’re on our way down there and we took a couple wrong turns and we were like ‘Where are we going?’ When we finally got to the college we were there but didn’t know how it would go, it ended up being amazing.”
So amazing in fact it’s where Sauvage will be playing next season.
Surrounded by friends, family and teammates on Friday, the James Monroe all-stater signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the Eagles.
It was a dream realized for a kid that’s never lacked confidence according to his father and James Monroe head coach Matt Sauvage.
“When he’s five or six years-old he’s playing at Duke but he’s always wanted to play college basketball,” Coach Sauvage said. “He’s realized where he’s at and he’s very humble with it. He had a goal – he wanted to play college ball. I knew about his junior year he definitely had the opportunity to do it. We didn’t know where it was going to be but we knew he had the opportunity to do it. There were five, six, possibly seven schools interested in him and Alice Lloyd was actually the last school we visited.”
Coming from a smaller community, retaining that hometown feel was key for Sauvage and it’s the vibe he felt when he toured the campus. The parallels were eerily similar to his current setup, tugging him towards Kentucky. It was a 180 compared to his first impression that nearly ruled the school out before they even arrived.
“It ended up being amazing,” Sauvage said. “Talking to the coaches and players and everything, I felt like I was at James Monroe really. We went and talked to the admissions lady up there and she kind of reminded me of the secretary we have here. They were really sociable and it felt like they wanted me there.”
On the basketball side the fit is nearly perfect as well. A beneficiary of the modern evolution of basketball that features for more guards with the ability to consistently hit the 3-pointer, Sauvage is used to playing in a fast-paced system that gives him free rein to pull up and launch from downtown.
“Their coach was telling me they like to play fast and I said that’s perfect for me,” Sauvage said. “At James Monroe we play fast and they have a shooting guard right now and I was talking to him after we shot around and he was like ‘I shoot a lot of 3s’ and I told him I do to so it’s perfect. But I was talking to him and everything  and it just felt like I’d fit their pace of play and how they like to play.”
Despite the college being located in Kentucky the sharpshooter will have a chance to play in familiar venue as the Eagles play in the River States Conference, the same as WVU Tech.
It’s not the only part of Sauvage’s college experience that will be familiar. He plans to go into the family business.
“I’m going into education,” Sauvage said. “My whole entire family – there’s like 10 of them that are in education so I’m thinking about that.”
For his father, Matt, it was a proud moment for the pair of freshly minted state champions. Having the opportunity to coach his son through the highs and the lows, win a state championship together and now watch him fulfill a dream the pair worked together to achieve felt surreal.
“As a coach it was a lot of fun to have a player of his skillset,” Coach Sauvage said. “If you take the dad away the coach is still fun. You watch some of these boys sometimes almost more as a fan than a coach. But as a dad today’s special. His freshman year was pretty decent and we were 15-8 but his sophomore year we went through a lot of adversity. We got down to about seven kids on varsity and four were freshmen. To see him – and I know he’s my son – but I call it the cornerstone. For him to be a cornerstone I thought that’s what he did. Even when we were 8-15 his sophomore year we told him the goal was to win a state championship and he meant it. They shot for the stars and luckily his senior year he was able to bring that into fruition so to speak.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
