{"id":246001,"date":"2026-04-12T06:07:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T06:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246001\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T06:07:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T06:07:23","slug":"texas-exodus-as-womens-final-four-team-sees-key-players-hit-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246001\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas exodus as women\u2019s Final Four team sees key players hit transfer portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 From Final Four<\/a> to roster rebuild. That\u2019s what Texas women\u2019s basketball coach Vic Schaefer<\/a> is facing after a group of key players hit the transfer portal this week.<\/p>\n

Schaefer still has three-time All-American Madison Booker<\/a> to build around, but the departures were jarring. A program coming off consecutive Final Four appearances was expecting to refresh and reload behind Booker, a group of seasoned veterans and one of the top recruiting classes in the country.<\/p>\n

Texas was already losing starting point guard Rori Harmon and center Kyla Oldacre, as well as key reserve forward Teya Sidberry as all three had expired their college eligibility.<\/p>\n

But soon after the transfer portal opened, a trio of players who were expected to be major contributors next year bolted.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Jordan Lee, the team\u2019s second-leading scorer who started 38 games and averaged 13.2 points and was the team\u2019s top 3-point shooter, was among them. So was Aaliyah Crump, who was one of the top recruits in the country in 2025. She missed 15 games last season with a foot injury but played in 24, averaging 7.9 points.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Jordan Lee, the team\u2019s second-leading scorer who started 38 games and averaged 13.2 points and was the team\u2019s top 3-point shooter, was among them. So was Aaliyah Crump, who was one of the top recruits in the country in 2025. She missed 15 games last season with a foot injury but played in 24, averaging 7.9 points.<\/p>\n

And sophomore Justice Carlton, who flashed moments of brilliance but also struggled with consistency, started 28 games and averaged 8.5 points. Also transferring is Aaliyah Moore, who missed last season with an injury.<\/p>\n

Carlton posted on social media<\/a> that she had wanted to play her entire career at Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never imagined I\u2019d transfer,\u201d she wrote, \u201cBut some things just don\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schaefer did not plan to make a comment on the departures, a team spokesman said.<\/p>\n

The players transferring out leave a team that has rocketed into the national elite in Schaefer\u2019s six seasons. In that span, Texas returned to the Final Four for the first time since 2003 and advanced to the Elite Eight three other times.<\/p>\n

Texas won a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title in 2025 and won the league tournament this past season. Texas also earned No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament the last three years.<\/p>\n

Schaefer has proven to be a demanding coach to play for, and willing to publicly criticize his players.<\/p>\n

After an 18-point loss in Nashville on Feb. 12, he went on a postgame rant that questioned his team\u2019s heart and called the Longhorns \u201cprobably the softest team I\u2019ve had in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t lose again until the Final Four. Schaefer\u2019s comments followed the team to Phoenix, where Harmon and Booker said the players had responded well to their coach\u2019s rebuke.<\/p>\n

The roster needs an overhaul for next season but is far from bare. Schaefer\u2019s incoming recruiting class<\/a> is ranked among the best in the nation, highlighted by guard Addison Bjorn and forward Brihanna Crittendon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 From Final Four to roster rebuild. That\u2019s what Texas women\u2019s basketball coach Vic Schaefer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-246001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}