Savannah Felgemacher has transferred to Radford. She'll have two years of eligibility remaining after her mandatory sit-out year. I wish her the best, I guess, but I'll sure miss her.

I don't know what her motives were, but Radford...really? That seems like a step down. Nikki McCray-Penson is looking for players at ODU and is a much better coach. Maybe Savannah wants to stay close to home. At least she didn't pick Liberty!

Sorry to see her go, always enjoyed watching her. Hope things work out for her at Radford.

With the way the roster is coming together for the upcoming season I would think she was not going to get a lot of playing time, so probably a good move for her.

Brian

Her request to transfer was on Twitter a few weeks ago and I was surprised. Her and her family seemed to really like JMU. Radford seems even more unusual.

(06-01-2017 11:10 AM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  Savannah Felgemacher has transferred to Radford. She'll have two years of eligibility remaining after her mandatory sit-out year. I wish her the best, I guess, but I'll sure miss her.

I don't know what her motives were, but Radford...really? That seems like a step down. Nikki McCray-Penson is looking for players at ODU and is a much better coach. Maybe Savannah wants to stay close to home. At least she didn't pick Liberty!

Diss on Radford all you want, but basketball is the one program they haven't given up on. They want to be good and be competitive.
Felgemacher wasn't flourishing here and coming out of her shell. She needed somewhere new. I wish her the best. I know she'll be a huge contributor for Radford.

From JMU to Radford? She knew she was going to ride the pines at JMU. Best of luck to her but I am not losing any sleep over her transfer.

(06-01-2017 11:34 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(06-01-2017 11:10 AM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  Savannah Felgemacher has transferred to Radford. She'll have two years of eligibility remaining after her mandatory sit-out year. I wish her the best, I guess, but I'll sure miss her.

I don't know what her motives were, but Radford...really? That seems like a step down. Nikki McCray-Penson is looking for players at ODU and is a much better coach. Maybe Savannah wants to stay close to home. At least she didn't pick Liberty!

Diss on Radford all you want, but basketball is the one program they haven't given up on. They want to be good and be competitive.
Felgemacher wasn't flourishing here and coming out of her shell. She needed somewhere new. I wish her the best. I know she'll be a huge contributor for Radford.

Seemed to me she was flourishing and playing very well at the end of the season. This looks like a step back and speaks to me of a crisis of self-confidence. It looks like she wasn't willing to fight for playing time.

Radford may "want" to be good and be competitive, but they didn't look to me like they were doing a very good job of it. They looked like a not-very-good D-II team, and believe me, I've seen my share of those. Savannah could have, if she wanted to badly enough, gone to a decent D-II in Tennessee or another D-I, or stayed here and fought for her place. It just looks to me like she lost her self-confidence, and that makes me sad.

Best of luck to Savannah in the next stage of her academic and playing career. I would have liked to have seen her stay here and compete and make OUR team better, but I know she will be an asset to Radford. Just sucks she will be making their team better and not ours.

I listened to most of Coach O's weekly pressers and I remember him saying multiple times that he wanted her to come out of her shell. I don't know if it was lack of confidence or he just couldn't get through to her. I really think Coach O believed in her and was really trying to get her to play to her potential. Just didn't happen.

As for Radford not being competitive, I think you're looking with purple colored glasses. Last year they were the 1 seed going into their conference tournament with a 24-9 record. I don't care that they played in the Big South... that speaks to me that they are a little bit better than a "very-good D-II team".
And as for their success.. they went from basement dweller to a top 4 conference team the last 3 years. Good for them. My point being is that she isn't going to a garbage program. She's going somewhere where they want to be successful and have had success recently but want to get to the next level and they're doing it the right way.

She absolutely improved this year over last; she was starting to post double-doubles almost regularly. Definitely an impact player for us so that's why I was surprised. Nevertheless I wish her the best!

I wish Savannah the best. She and her parents will be missed - I am sort of surprised that she is leaving but I respect her decision and just want her to be happy and get a good education.

Are there any interviews with Savannah and/or Coach regarding the transfer?

(06-02-2017 07:59 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  I listened to most of Coach O's weekly pressers and I remember him saying multiple times that he wanted her to come out of her shell. I don't know if it was lack of confidence or he just couldn't get through to her. I really think Coach O believed in her and was really trying to get her to play to her potential. Just didn't happen.

As for Radford not being competitive, I think you're looking with purple colored glasses. Last year they were the 1 seed going into their conference tournament with a 24-9 record. I don't care that they played in the Big South... that speaks to me that they are a little bit better than a "very-good D-II team".
And as for their success.. they went from basement dweller to a top 4 conference team the last 3 years. Good for them. My point being is that she isn't going to a garbage program. She's going somewhere where they want to be successful and have had success recently but want to get to the next level and they're doing it the right way.

That's *their* conference. Yeah, "Big" South, once dominated by Liberty (how have the mighty fallen!) and otherwise made up of schools which are barely more than D-II. Sorry, not impressed. Radford may be a good school academically, (my best friend is a retired librarian from there) but athletically, well, sorry about that.

I wish Savannah the best of luck anyway.

As difficult as it may be to believe, we lose students to Radford. Some kids get to JMU and the large student body sort of overwhelms them. Some simply believe they would be served better in a smaller environment. If she really places a lot of her opportunity to get an education paid for by her abilities on the court and has a good understanding that, after college, basketball will only be some great memories while feeling JMU isn't the right fit for her as a student, then she is making a good choice.

Is Radford an easier commute for her parents to attend games?

(06-02-2017 02:34 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  Is Radford an easier commute for her parents to attend games?

I don't know where Church Hill, TN is but anyplace in TN is going to be a couple hours closer to Radford versus JMU.

(06-02-2017 02:37 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(06-02-2017 02:34 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  Is Radford an easier commute for her parents to attend games?

I don't know where Church Hill, TN is but anyplace in TN is going to be a couple hours closer to Radford versus JMU.

Also, her parents would be closer to most all of her away games playing for RU.

Savannah is transferring because she feels she should be the focal point of the JMU offense, nothing more nothing less. If you watched her this year you could see improvement but she still had a way of disappearing against bigger more physical front court players. She could have stayed and been a nice piece of the puzzle but there was no way I could see her as the focal point on a team competing for a CAA title. This sort of reasoning is why so many hundreds of kids transfer each year from men and women's teams.

(06-03-2017 11:18 AM)Bogey Wrote:  Savannah is transferring because she feels she should be the focal point of the JMU offense, nothing more nothing less. If you watched her this year you could see improvement but she still had a way of disappearing against bigger more physical front court players. She could have stayed and been a nice piece of the puzzle but there was no way I could see her as the focal point on a team competing for a CAA title. This sort of reasoning is why so many hundreds of kids transfer each year from men and women's teams.

Ugly and uncalled for.

(06-03-2017 11:18 AM)Bogey Wrote:  Savannah is transferring because she feels she should be the focal point of the JMU offense, nothing more nothing less. If you watched her this year you could see improvement but she still had a way of disappearing against bigger more physical front court players. She could have stayed and been a nice piece of the puzzle but there was no way I could see her as the focal point on a team competing for a CAA title. This sort of reasoning is why so many hundreds of kids transfer each year from men and women's teams.

So, you're implying she was immature, and/or too impressed by her reflection in the mirror to accept a realistic appraisal of her ability?

I agree that many young players struggle with that problem, and it's often fueled by parents, and other close family associates feeding the player unfiltered praise.

Sometimes a HC can penetrate that "fog" and get the player to overcome it, and ultimately become a contributing member of the TEAM. It often takes a HC who commands the player's total respect, however, and I believe that coach now lives near Blacksburg. Which isn't a shot at Sean, but he didn't recruit her, and Sean didn't have 300 D1 Ws at JMU, and Sean didn't play for the legendary Lefty Drisell.

(06-03-2017 04:48 PM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  

(06-03-2017 11:18 AM)Bogey Wrote:  Savannah is transferring because she feels she should be the focal point of the JMU offense, nothing more nothing less. If you watched her this year you could see improvement but she still had a way of disappearing against bigger more physical front court players. She could have stayed and been a nice piece of the puzzle but there was no way I could see her as the focal point on a team competing for a CAA title. This sort of reasoning is why so many hundreds of kids transfer each year from men and women's teams.

Ugly and uncalled for.

Orange,

Ugly is such a strong word. Could you be a bit more specific??? What I said in my post regarding the focal point was told to me by a trusted person who spoke directly with Savannah. Even if something got lost in translation it was clear that she wanted to be a bigger part of the offense. What I said regarding her disappearing against more physical players can be backed up statistically. In her defense, she was injured early in the year and what I said about disappearing occurred against the bigger programs like UVA and Villanova. In my post I ultimately said that I thought that she could have stayed and been a nice piece of the puzzle. That was a compliment. I think the world of Savannah and wish her well in the future.