{"id":5059,"date":"2025-10-15T15:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/5059\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T15:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:53:09","slug":"vic-schaefer-madison-booker-represent-texas-at-sec-basketball-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/5059\/","title":{"rendered":"Vic Schaefer, Madison Booker represent Texas at SEC basketball event"},"content":{"rendered":"

In less than a month, the Texas women’s basketball<\/a> team will meet Incarnate Word on the court. This week, however, the Longhorns first met the media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Texas sent head coach Vic Schaefer<\/a> to Tuesday’s SEC Tipoff media event. The Longhorns were also represented by senior guard\u00a0Rori Harmon<\/a>, senior center Kyla Oldacre<\/a> and junior forward Madison Booker<\/a> in Birmingham, Ala.<\/p>\n

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For Texas, the SEC Tipoff is part of the countdown to the Longhorns’ season opener Nov. 3 against Incarnate Word. That countdown also includes this Sunday afternoon’s Orange-White Scrimmage at Moody Center and the team’s upcoming exhibition games against Lubbock Christian and Texas Women’s University.<\/p>\n

Here are three things the Longhorns said at the SEC Tipoff:<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns forward Madison Booker (35) brings the ball down in the second half of the Longhorns’ NCAA Playoff Regional semi-final game against the Tennessee Lady Vols at Legacy Arena in Birmingham Alabama, March 29, 2025.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

1. What’s next for Madison Booker after two All-American campaigns?<\/p>\n

A junior, Booker is on pace to becoming one of the greatest players in the history of the Texas women’s basketball program. She may already be included in the conversation. Over her two years at Texas, Booker has twice been named an All-American, been lauded as the player of the year in both the Big 12 and SEC and led Texas to the Final Four<\/a>. Only Annette Smith (1,489 points) and Linda Waggoner (1,353 points) scored more points over their first two years at Texas than Booker, who enters this season with 1,231\u00a0career points.<\/p>\n

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More: Is Madison Booker on a pace to become school’s all-time leading scorer?<\/a><\/p>\n

So what’s next for Booker?<\/p>\n

“You want to know what the next step is for her? To me, (leadership is) the piece that I want to see, and that’s what she’s been doing a really good job of,” Schaefer said while being interviewed on SEC Network.<\/p>\n

Texas has five seniors on its roster. However, just\u00a0Harmon has played in more games for Texas than Booker. Texas will be looking to replace veteran leaders like Shay Holle, Taylor Jones and Aaliyah Moore this season.<\/p>\n

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For her part, Booker said she wanted to improve on defense this season. Booker added that she was able to focus on a defensive role while playing on a star-studded Team USA that won gold at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup competition\u00a0this past summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Kyla Oldacre likens teammates Rori Harmon, Madison Booker to puzzle pieces<\/p>\n

What’s it like playing alongside Booker and Harmon?\u00a0Oldacre got that experience last year after transferring to Texas from Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a transcript provided by the SEC, Oldacre was quoted as saying that Booker and Harmon were\u00a0“like the missing puzzle piece to just help bring everyone together. They\u2019re like a peace treaty for this team and just always there, uplifting each one of us if\u00a0we have a bad day or if we were in our heads. They want what\u2019s best for us, just like what we want\u00a0what\u2019s best for them.”<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer gives instructions to forward Kyla Oldacre (00) during the first round NCAA playoff game against William & Mary at the Moody Center on Saturday, March 22, 2025.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

3. As rankings are released, Texas is not looking too far ahead<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Texas found that it was ranked fourth in an Associated Press’ preseason poll that was topped by UConn. That implies that the AP’s 31 voters expect Texas to return to the Final Four, which is being held this season in Phoenix. When prompted on the SEC Network, though, Harmon insisted that the\u00a0Longhorns were looking ahead to tomorrow instead of April.<\/p>\n

“I think our thing right now is just getting 1% better every day,” Harmon said. “Coach sends us a really good phrase or a Bible verse every day, and I think we truly all embody that and take that really personally. We talk about it at practice or we may talk about it within ourselves as a team, but I think it’s really as simple as that. It’s just being bought in 1% every day.<\/p>\n

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“I really do think that we’re trying to embody that because you don’t want to do 1% worse one day. But even then, you’re not going to have a perfect day every day. You’re really not. But it’s just how you respond.”<\/p>\n

More: Longhorns draw UNC for ACC\/SEC Challenge<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas will get tested throughout its 31-game schedule<\/a>. Thirteen of UT’s upcoming opponents were ranked by AP voters ahead of the 2025-26 season:<\/p>\n

Nov. 7: No. 24 Richmond<\/p>\n

Nov. 26: No. 3 UCLA (in Las Vegas)<\/p>\n

Dec. 4: No. 11 North Carolina<\/p>\n

Dec. 14: No. 16 Baylor (in Fort Worth)<\/p>\n

Jan. 4: No. 12 Ole Miss<\/p>\n

Jan. 11: at No. 5 LSU<\/p>\n

Jan. 15: at No. 2 South Carolina<\/p>\n

Feb. 1: No. 6 Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Feb. 5: No. 5 LSU<\/p>\n

Feb. 9: No. 24 Kentucky<\/p>\n

Feb. 12: at No. 19 Vanderbilt<\/p>\n

Feb. 15: at No. 8 Tennessee<\/p>\n

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Texas will also face either No. 2 South Carolina or No. 7 Duke on Nov. 27. That is the second day of the Players Era event\u00a0in Las Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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