Madison Booker and Texas earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year, and made it to the Final Four twice in a row after 20 years away.
Then the Longhorns watched three key players walk out the door.
That’s life in the modern era of the transfer portal and player mobility. The exodus has hardly seemed to phase Longhorns coach Vic Shaefer and the team they left behind, or tempered the expectations surrounding the program.
With do-everything All-American Booker still leading the way, Texas starts the season ranked No. 6 and is considered a strong threat to No. 1 South Carolina for the Southeastern Conference championship. Texas opens the season Wednesday night against Fairleigh Dickinson.
Still, it was a surprise when the Longhorns returned home from a Final Four loss to UCLA and watched Jordan Lee transfer to South Carolina, guard Aaliyah Crump transfer to Duke and forward Justice Carlton transfer to Houston.
“That broke my heart, but at the end of they day, they are individual players and have to do what’s best for them,” Texas point guard Bryanna Preston said.
All three played big roles in chasing Texas’ first national championship since its only one in 1986. Lee and Crump were two of the biggest transfer moves in the country.
Lee was Texas’ No. 2 scoring leader at 13.2 points last season and is a top-level perimeter defender. She started and scored 13 in her South Carolina debut against Maryland. Crump was limited because of injuries last season but was one of the top recruits in the country out of high school.
Booker seemed little interested in looking back or even wondering why a former teammate would leave.
“I mean, that’s their journey,” Booker said. “What they thought is going to be better for their journey is what they thought. I’m supporting them always.”
Over the past five seasons, Texas leaned on point guard Rori Harmon on both ends of the court. Harmon is the only player in Division I history with more than 1,500 points, 900 assists, 600 rebounds and 350 steals. She is now in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics.
Harmon was tiny but she dogged opponents with relentless defense and was typically assigned to defend the opponents’ top perimeter player. That is likely Preston’s job now.
“Rori was fast. Bri’s electric. I’m excited to see her this year. She’s really special. I don’t worry about her running our team or doing things for us on offense,” Schaefer said. “What we’ll have a hard time replacing is the defense. Who is going to step to be that No. 1 defender?”
Booker drives Texas. As a freshman, she took over Harmon’s point guard duties when Harmon was sidelined for most of the season with a knee injury.
With her size, ballhandling and free-flowing jump shot, she is a matchup nightmare for smaller guards and slower forwards.
She’s also no longer a kid. She’s a fourth-year player who has already taken her place in program history and now wants to bring home a championship.
Booker also comes into this season off the worst game of her career in the Final Four loss to UCLA. Booker shot just 3 of 23 with a string of 17 consecutive misses. Her driving layup to get Texas within one in the final 20 seconds was blocked.
It was her second bad game in a Final Four. Booker scored only 11 points in a blowout loss to South Carolina in 2025.
“It’s a new year and a new team. That loss was heartbreaking … but it’s in the past, we move on. That was my mentality,” Booker said.
Booker needs just 31 points to become the program’s fourth career 2,000-point scorer. After the loss to UCLA, Booker took a month off and then returned to practice with a clear motivation to chase the elusive national championship.
“I thought about what I need to get better and that was to be a three-level scorer … and use my voice to put confidence in a young group,” Booker said. “That’s my whole approach. I can’t be good without my teammates.”
Schaefer and the Longhorns will be leaning on her again.
“In my mind, Madison Booker is the best player in the country,” Schaefer said. “Every night when we take the floor, I feel good about that.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.