It’s fall in Texas, and that means it’s time for college basketball.
This season is just getting underway, and though it’s early and much can change, three women’s teams in Texas are currently ranked in the top 20. UT is the highest-ranked team from Texas at the No. 4 spot, but the road to Phoenix and the women’s Final Four is a long one.
Danny Davis, who covers collegiate sports for the Austin American-Statesman, joined the Standard for a season preview. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Well, let’s start at the top with the Lady Longhorns. Remind listeners how they fared last season and who from that roster is back.
Danny Davis: Texas could’ve finally broke through. They’d been kind of knocking on the Final Four door for a couple years. Hadn’t been since 2003.
But last year, finally got to Tampa, lost to South Carolina in the Final Four game, which was not a surprise because South Carolina went 3-1 against Texas last year. But this year, they’re back. They’re very hungry. They’re looking for their first national title in 40 years.
And Rori Harmon and Madison Booker, who are both great players in the Texas record books, they’re leading the way.
Well, you already mentioned Madison Booker. Some are calling this season “the Madison Booker show.” Do you think she’ll carry UT through the season or are there other folks you’re watching that really round out this team?
I mean, Madison is the center point of this team. She’s a two-time All-American. She’s well on her way, or she continues on this path to being one of, if not the, greatest players in school history.
But she’s not alone. Rori Harmon, in a couple weeks, is going to become the all-time assist leader at Texas and break the record that’s been held for 40 years by Kamie Ethridge, who was the first woman to have her number retired at Texas in any sport. So that’s a pretty big deal at Texas.
And then you have some other players who are growing up, like Jordan Lee, who was a freshman last year… Bri Preston, or some transfers coming in, Breya Cunningham, Teya Sidberry… Or a freshman like Aaliyah Crump, who was a top five recruit this past recruiting class.
So Madison is not alone, but she’s definitely the star of this team. And her and Rori are kind of the one-two punch. And Rori is also, as a fifth-year senior, the senior leader and the voice of this team.
I guess it should give Texas fans some confidence going in, knowing that there are these younger players who are really already making an impact early on in their time at UT.
Yeah, Vic Schaefer has asked some of these young players to grow up. Aaliyah Crump, I think, has started already three times. Jordan Lee, who was the leading scorer actually in the Final Four game that we just talked about, won a gold medal with Team USA at one of the summertime tournaments this past summer. And now she’s a sophomore. She’s getting into her own.
Some of those others – Bri Preston and Justice Carlton – were freshmen last year and had some nice moments. They’re a year older and a lot more confident in their game.
So it is a nice mix for Texas – has some older players who have been around for a while, but also the future looks bright for Texas, as well.
Well, let’s not forget the other Texas teams in the top 20. Baylor has already seen a jump in the AP rankings. They climbed nine places to reach No. 7 after upsetting Duke. Tell us more about that squad.
This is a team that has some players who have been around for a little bit. I was looking at their roster this morning and saw Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, who seems like she’s been there for 10 years, but she’s finally a senior. Bella Fontleroy has been around a while.
But Taliah Scott came in this offseason from Auburn, started her career fresh at Arkansas and was really good for them, was kind of injured last year, but she’s come in and has instantly become instant offensive for that team. She’s very talented and she’s just added some firepower to what was a veteran and very good Baylor team.
I’m looking forward to Baylor and Texas playing in a couple weeks, because they didn’t play last year for some reason. So it’s good to have the Bears and the Longhorns playing again.
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And of course, TCU ranked 17th in the AP poll. They’re coming back from a really stellar year where they reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. What can we expect from the Horned Frogs this season?
Yeah, this TCU team, it’s gonna be interesting. They seem to be just the transfer portal… The “T” in “TCU” seems to stand for “transfer,” because pretty much all the players who led them to the Final Four last year, they all kind of phased out, and they were transfers last year.
I think four of their five starters this year did not play on the team. Last year, I think one of them was on the team when she was injured.
But so, I mean, they’re pretty much a completely new team – got a bunch of transfers. Obviously, Olivia Miles is the headline there – coming over from Notre Dame, probably could have been a high WNBA draft pick. She’d opted to go into the draft, but decided to stay one year of college, do some NIL stuff, and she’s the star of that team.
So it seems like TCU is kind of a… They’re just getting a bunch of mercenaries, and they’re gonna just keep reloading every year. And Mark Campbell’s a very good coach there in Fort Worth.
Well, I know there are other Texas college women’s teams that we didn’t mention. Any that you think have a Top 25 chances that we should keep an eye on?
Probably not. Texas Tech has long been struggling. SMU, I really like SMU. They brought over the coach from Arizona, Coach Barnes. She’s a very good coach, but they need a couple years before they started reloading.
Houston has a new coach who had been away from the game, just spent some time at Kentucky, but they’re rebuilding as well.
A lot of these Texas teams are rebuilding, trying to get to where Texas and Baylor and TCU are, but it’s probably going to be a couple years for those teams.
