An OK start
Early games yield reasons for optimism
Posted on 11/26/2010 by Katie Remke Seal
PonyFans.com is pleased to have former SMU post Katie Remke Seal back for her fourth season as PonyFans.com's women's basketball analyst. Remke had a very successful playing career with the Mustangs from 1997-2001, during which she climbed to third place in SMU history with 109 blocked shots. Throughout the season, she will weigh in with her insights about the 2010-11 SMU women's basketball team and will call upon her own experiences and knowledge to shed some additional light on the goings-on with this year's team.
An OK start for what everyone hopes to be a strong season.

A record of 1-2 isn’t a great way to start out the season, but it isn’t terrible, either.

The two losses the Mustangs suffered were close and definitely showed what this team is capable of. Utah has been a perennial powerhouse and we all know that TCU has been really strong for a few years now. The fact that the ladies played their hearts out and made it interesting during both of those losses (falling by a single point against Utah and six against the Frogs) makes me excited to see what this team can do this season.

Katie Remke Seal says senior Haley Day could form a potent perimeter scoring tandem with guard Raquel Christian if she resumes her role as a slashing scorer (photo by Travis Johnston).
In my observations, there is some great potential. I think everyone will miss Brittany Gilliam and her ability to create shots. However, the dynamic combination of point guard Raquel Christian and wing Haley Day could be very strong. If Christian can be a strong outside shooter and Haley looks to score as a slasher they will hard to defend, creating that highly desired inside/outside threat. Day has been that spark on the court and I am hopeful she will shine on the offensive side this year and looks for more of her own shots. It has been great to watch her mature over the years on the floor — I can’t believe this is already her senior season.

The post players have looked OK, but they always will have a hard time with teams who have tall post players. The SMU post players are strong, but that is one area the Ponies are lacking — they are not tall.

I, like most of the fans, am excited to see Delisha Wills back on the floor. I thought Delisha looked strong in the season opener (against Utah) but tired in the first couple of games. Once she gets in better game shape it will be great to see what she and junior post Christine Elliott can do together.

It is good to see that we have a couple of options off the bench this year as well. We need to teach some of the young ones to stop fouling so much, but they can provide some much-needed relief to the starters while adding a point or two off the bench.

I am hopeful this is another 20-win season for the Mustangs. I think this year’s team has the capability to do so if the players just play hard … and listen to Rhonda (Rompola).

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