How Texas' Rori Harmon and Madison Booker improved ... by not playing together
NEWARK, N.J. — Rori Harmon’s influence on Madison Booker was quite apparent as the pair constantly sat beside each other on the Texas bench. Harmon sat in street clothes with a pen and paper in hand, leaning over to give guidance and reassurance while she was out for the season due to injury. Booker, a freshman thrust from small forward into Harmon’s starting point guard role, soaked it all up en route to All-America honors.
What went under the radar a year ago was how that influence went both ways.
“That’s what people don’t understand,” Harmon said. “Yeah, she learned a lot from me. But I was on the sideline watching her play, so I learned a lot from her. And I think now we both combined what we’ve learned and are producing on the court now and beating a top-eight team.”
One year and three days after surgery to repair the ACL injury she sustained in a gameday workout, Harmon guided Texas (18-2, 4-1 SEC) on Monday to its most lopsided win over a top-10 team in program history. Though she made only one field goal, she had seven assists to two turnovers, led a suffocating press and ensured the ball found its way to Booker for 28 points in as many minutes for the forward. The No. 7 Longhorns are Final Four contenders, featuring what few in the country can say.
“There’s not many teams across the country that start with two All-Americans like these two,” Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said, gesturing toward Harmon and Booker on either side of him after their signature 89-51 win over No. 8 Maryland.
The duo has played merely 32 games together over a season and a half, the equivalent of an NCAA season with a deep tournament run. It’s the 26 games they spent divided by health that shaped their current dominance.
Texas was undefeated at the time with a signature win over UConn in which the pair combined for 47 points. Harmon’s play on both ends drew rave reviews from Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma, and she became a distant contender for National Player of the Year.
After the 5-foot-6 point guard and two-time All-America honorable mention tore her ACL in late December 2023, Schaefer turned to the 6-1 Booker to handle the ball that same night.
“She had to grow up super fast,” Harmon said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we got to wait until next year.’ No, she had to do it immediately.”
With Harmon in her ear, Booker maintained the pace and carried the Longhorns to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they lost to N.C. State in the regional final. Booker earned All-America honors from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, became the first freshman to win Big 12 Player of the Year and was named the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year.
“I always thought to myself when I was sitting out that she did better than any other point guard in the nation last year,” Harmon said. “She had been thrown in that position as a freshman, and she did better than anyone that I've seen.”
Back on the court together, they’re meshing what they’ve experienced and given Texas more versatility. Harmon has played more minutes on the wing, taking in perspective from Booker at each position. She’s averaging 10.3 points, 6.1 assists (100th percentile) and 2.5 steals (99th percentile) per game. And Booker is proud to describe her play as a point-forward, averaging 15.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals.
“From that position, I can see things, too,” Booker said. “I kind of help her with it, and I think it’s working good. We go hand in hand together.”
The win over Maryland was growth for them, Schaefer said, with Booker receiving everyone’s best shot.
“She’s seeing some different things that she didn’t see last year,” Schaefer said.
And Harmon is still making her way back from the injury while carrying the load of running Texas’ offense and pacing its defensive pressure. Schaefer said he has to remind himself to give her grace.
“Tell me another point guard in the country that does what she does, “Schaefer said. “Picks up 94 feet. The minute that ball goes through she’s on you-know-what like stink on you-know-what. You tell me who else in the country is doing that? Nobody.”
Booker and Harmon are not only learning how to play with each other again, they and the Longhorns, who rank second in NET rating, are also facing new competition in conference realignment.
“The SEC is way different than the Big 12,” Schaefer said last week. “I think all my players now after five [conference] games are seeing that. More length, more athleticism, more quickness, more speed.”
Texas has to play reigning champion South Carolina, winners of eight consecutive SEC regular-season titles, twice this season. They were blown out earlier this month on the road, 67-50, in a game that was never close. They meet again in Austin on Feb. 9. That starts a three-game stretch that includes Kentucky and LSU.
The first priority is No. 17 Tennessee (8 p.m. Thursday, ESPN), a team under first-year head coach Kim Caldwell that wants to press, run and hit 3s at a high volume. In a league featuring some of the nation’s best, Harmon’s and Booker’s influence together can’t go under the radar if Texas plans to reach its first Final Four since 2003.
