Season glance: The women’s games 11-15

For the men’s story yesterday, I cut the look down to three games because those were the final three games before conference play. The women play 15 non-conference games before starting the SEC schedule. So we’re going to zoom through those five.

Out of the first 10 games, I had the Tigers going 7-3. This group doesn’t have a ton to talk about, so before starting, I expect I’ll have them at double-digit wins coming out.

We’re kicking off this group of games with a Mustang team that went 14-16 overall and 8-10 in American Athletic Conference play last season.

The only power-conference opponents SMU played last year were Colorado (an 84-69 loss) and Baylor (an 85-61 loss). So they played two very tough games, but otherwise not a lot going on on the schedule.

This will be SMU’s first year moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference so there are a lot more tough opponents on the SMU slate this year with non-conference matchups against Arizona State (Nov. 16), Minnesota (Nov. 17), Missouri, Florida State (Dec. 8) and Texas Tech (Dec. 11).

I have to say, SMU might do alright in the ACC in other sports, but I have a feeling the women’s basketball team is going to have a hard time this year.

There was a lot of turnover from last year’s roster with senior forward Chatae Embry (6-foot, 1-inch) the only returning player who started regularly.

Embry averaged 12.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season.

The Mustangs brought in a number of transfers in Zanai Jones (5-5) from Villanova, junior guard Nya Robertson (5-7) from George Washington, senior forward Kaysia Woods (6-0) from Xavier, senior forward Sandra Magolico (6-2) from Arizona State, graduate guard Nicole Rodriguez (5-8) from Loyola Marymount, sophomore guard Kylie Marshall (5-11) from Texas A&M and junior center Brianna McLeod (6-3) from Colorado.

That’s by far the most transfers I’ve had to mention for a team during the women’s glances, so I really don’t know what exactly to make of this team, but I think Missouri should be able to handle the Mustangs in their first year of a vastly-improved schedule.

The Huskies are coming off a 15-16 season with an 8-10 record in Mid-American Conference play.

The only power-conference opponent Northern Illinois played last year was Wisconsin (a 75-54 loss) though they did play Miami of Ohio twice in MACtion just to mess with me when I’m looking at the schedule

The size of the MAC schedule gives Northern Illinois only 10 non-conference games and this year Missouri and Iowa are the two big ones.

The Huskies had seven players start at least 14 games last season and three are back, including leading-scorer graduate forward Brook Stonebraker (6-3), who averaged 11.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Redshirt senior guard Sidney McCrea (5-10) is also back after averaging 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.06 assists per game. Redshirt sophomore forward Brooke Blumenfeld (6-0) also returns after averaging 6.5 points per game and starting 14-of-30 contests she appeared in.

I think this should be another easy one for the Tigers.

OK, honestly, I’m going to speed up a bit because there isn’t a team in this group that should be real competition. The Tigers really dumbed down the non-conference schedule.

Lipscomb went 17-13 last season and 10-6 in Atlantic Sun play.

The Bisons played at Indiana (77-44 loss), at Vanderbilt (72-50 loss) and at Kentucky (87-80 loss) last season. That Kentucky loss worries me a bit, but Kentucky was pretty awful last year.

Lipscomb returns three starters and four of their top-six scorers from last season.

Senior guard Claira McGowan (5-7) is back after averaging 12.8 points and 4.8 rebounds last year, but started just 10-of-30 games. Senior guard/forward Bella Vinson (6-2) returns as a starter after averaging 11.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while junior guard Molly Heard (6-0) returns as a starter after averaging 10.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Junior guard Ainhoa Cea (5-6) is also back after averaging 4.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per contest.

So a lot of returning experience, but I think the talent level will play out as expected. Another win for Missouri.

Here’s the most real team in the group. Oral Roberts went 21-11 last season and 11-5 in Summit League play. Ya, the Summit League isn’t the best level of competition, but the Golden Eagles did face TCU (76-56 loss), Oklahoma (103-74 loss), Texas (112-74 loss), Kansas State (102-59 loss). That’s not just a lot of power-conference opponents, that’s a lot of ranked opponents. Oral Roberts did beat Kansas City, Wichita State and Tulsa in non-conference play if that helps make my most-real-team argument.

The Golden Eagles lost 93-91 to Grambling State in the first round of the WNIT.

Oral Roberts returns four starters and five-of-six top scorers.

Junior guard Taleyah Jones (5-10, 17.5 points, 3.2 rebounds), graduate guard Ruthie Udoumoh (6-1, 12.3 points, 9.8 rebounds), sophomore forward Emily Robinson (5-10, 10.3 points, 3.7 rebounds) and senior guard Meghan Weinrich (5-10, 4.1 points, 4.6 rebounds) all return to the starting lineup, while redshirt junior guard Jalei Oglesby (5-8, 13.9 points, 6.4 rebounds) is back after starting two games, but playing in all 32.

This is the only game in this group that gives me ANY pause and just because I think this Missouri team is flawed and I don’t want to say they’re going to go 5-0 in any five-game stretch this year, this is where I’ll put the loss for the group.

I wasn’t expecting to say it, but Jackson State is kind of a real team, too. The Lady Tigers went 26-7 last year and 18-0 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play.

Their best win of the season was probably beating Arkansas Pine-Bluff in the SWAC Tournament?

The non-conference wins were St. Johns University, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Southeastern Louisiana University, Tougaloo College and LeMoyne-Owens College. So not a lot to be said about that group.

But what did impress me where some of the big-game losses. Jackson State did play Central Florida (63-54 loss), Kansas State (79-37 loss), Oregon State (78-58 loss), Mississippi State (82-72 loss), Miami (59-52 loss) and Texas (97-52 loss) plus it played UConn (86-64 loss) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after winning the SWAC Tournament.

Oregon State was still a power-conference opponent last year! I don’t want to hear it! I grew up around Seattle and I’m still mad about the Pac-12.

Playing within 10 points of Central Florida, Mississippi State and Miami is pretty impressive. None of those teams are world-beaters in women’s basketball, but neither is Missouri.

I think Jackson State could give the Tigers a game, but Missouri pulls out a win to finish off non-conference play.

I had the Tigers at 7-3 coming into this group and 4-1 during these five. So congrats Mizzou fans, the Tigers are headed into conference play with a record of 11-4, which matches their win total from last season.

It helps to take out the best non-conference games on the schedule.

Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss this story and so much more.