So now what?

The SMU women’s basketball team is off to a slow start, and was handed the worst loss of the season Sunday at Texas A&M. So, now what? Where does the team go from here? How do the players respond? How do the coaches respond?

Head coach Rhonda Rompola and the Mustangs have to remember that a lopsided loss might sting, but it's still just one game (photo by Travis Johnston).

The bad news for the team is that there is an entire week between the A&M game and the North Texas game, so the coaches are probably responding with plenty of conditioning drills and running sessions … man, I don’t miss those days.

The good news for the team is that the season is just that: a season, a collection of games — not just one game. The season isn’t over after Sunday’s loss — it was only one game. The better news is that the Mustangs still are only playing in their non-conference season. This is the time the team is supposed to learn from its mistakes, and take its hits in order for everything to be ironed out before the conference games start.

The team needs to respond by coming together, not falling apart and pointing fingers. The only concern is that this team is very young. Most of the team has come from very successful AAU and high school programs where they have never been in this situation before. In my last article, I harped on the importance of leadership, and this is exactly the kind of situation when it is so important this season. The leaders of this team need to make sure to rally the team together when things are difficult. The leaders need to get this team focused and learn from its losses, not just repeat the same errors game after game.

Moving forward, the team needs to take this season one game at a time, because a team can’t win 10 games at once — if you could do that, Rhonda would have figured out a way by now. At this time, the players and coaches need to address how they can beat North Texas Sunday — that should be the only thing the team is concerned about this week. After that, they can figure out how to beat Dartmouth Tuesday night.

One game at a time. The wins will come — it just takes time.