A Quick Look At: SMU

Got a reply back from SMU Head Coach Brent Pollari; now in this third season as head coach of the Cardinals down the River in Winona.  The Cardinals finished 13-12 last year overall (7-11 in MIAC play) but faded badly down the stretch; going 2-8 in their final ten games that cost them that coveted sixth spot in the MIAC playoffs. 

The first thing that caught my eye when I glanced at the roster on the SMU website was the incredible number of new faces coming on to the roster this season - 14 freshmen in all.  Only one senior is back for this season - Alexa Huisman from Adrian.  One sophomore and four juniors make up the rest of the roster so obviously youth abounds on this team.  Still, Pollari has an air of optimism about his young team:

"I am excited about this year....We graduated key pieces with Emma Schaefer, Sam Jones and Brigitte Audette graduating....As you probably know, our program was very thin with numbers the last couple of seasons but we hope to have that fixed by bringing in 15 new freshmen....So far we are looking good but we will be young....Key returners are Brandi Blattner, Lex Huisman and Kirsten Keefe....We should be a lot deeper this year but not as experienced."


That's probably the best analysis in a nutshell that you could come up with.  No doubt, losing players like Schaefer who was a wiz in the backcourt along with frontline players like Jones and Audette hurts.  Still, having someone like Blattner back who may very well be one of the best players in the MIAC is huge for this SMU team and the junior and former Dover-Eyota standout will have to carry a huge load this year if the Cardinals hope to vie for a MIAC playoff berth.  But the main focus this season for Pollari and his staff will be developing the influx of young players in this program and hoping that they can contribute - soon.  One of the newbies that stuck out in my mind this last summer at the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League was Claire Patterson out of Stillwater.  She just stuck out to me as someone who has the capability to step up in big-game situations and that would be a huge plus for Pollari and this young squad if that is indeed the case.  I would expect that junior Brittany Flom out of Kenyon-Wanamingo will also figure heavily in the Cardinals success this season as well.

Outlook:  The Cardinals open things up the first weekend in November when they travel across town to take on Winona State in an exhibition game on Saturday (11-4).  They host Martin Luther out of the UMAC at home on Wednesday (11-15) before traveling up to St. Joe for something of a MIAC-WIAC-UMAC Challenge - they take on UW-La Crosse on Friday (11-17) and then UM-Morris the next day (Saturday 11-18).  A trip down the River and CP Rail's River and Marquette Subs to Dubuque, Iowa is in the offing as they take on Dubuque out of the IIAC on Tuesday (11-21) and then it's a trip across the River to WIAC opponent UW-Eau Claire on Sunday (11-26) before a home date on Wednesday (11-29) with UMAC opponent  St. Scholastica.  It's critical, IMHO, for the Cards to come out of this non-conference slate in good shape as their first two MIAC games are at Augsburg and Carleton.  Right after that, Bethel will come a callin'.  So it will be interesting to see how this young squad holds up by the first part of December.