March 28, 2026, 12:37 p.m. ET
Following Texas women’s basketball’s uninspired 86-70 loss to Vanderbilt in February, head coach Vic Schaefer publicly referred to as out his squad. The challenge led to some laborious conversations between the Longhorns.
“We had to come back to drawing board. What’s our goals for the season? What do we want out of this season too? What are we doing?” junior ahead Madison Booker recalled to USA TODAY Sports. “Our veteran leader, Rori (Harmon) stepped up and said, ‘The center’s the center here, so we need to do better.'”
Booker said the reset “got us clicking at the right moment.” That’s not an understatement. Texas has responded with ten consecutive wins, including an SEC championship victory over South Carolina, and two wins in the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament. Texas is now one win away from their third consecutive Elite Eight appearance.
No. 5 Kentucky stands in their way.
40 POINTS, 0 MISTAKES: Madison Booker dominates as Texas women advance to Sweet 16
Booker, however, enters the Sweet 16 round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament March Madness round extra motivated. Booker reached the Elite Eight her freshman year and advanced to the Final Four her sophomore season, before falling short of the ultimate goal of winning Texas’ first national title since 1986 each time.
“Just keep pushing,” said Booker, who dropped a career-high 40 points in Texas’ second-round win over No. 8 Oregon. “It definitely pushes you a lot just because you know how far you can get, the work you put in and you know what you could have did better those last two years… we learned from it.”
Booker finished with eight rebounds and five assists in Texas’ second-round win, but the biggest assist has come from TurboTax. Booker spoke to USA TODAY Sports ahead of March Madness through her partnership with the company, which helps student-athletes navigate the tax side of NIL earnings to allow the All-American to “just focus on the court, more than I focus on my taxes,” Booker joked.
Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: Texas will be able to stay in the state for the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight (in the Fort Worth regional 3 bracket). How big of an advantage is that for you guys to stay so close to home?
Booker: “It’s a big advantage. I mean, our fans are amazing and I’m happy that we can reward them with staying in Texas too. So they won’t have to travel far to come see us play… I mean we play hard. I guess we get the No. 3 seed to stay in Texas, so that’s all kind our hard work.”
Q: Texas has been through a gauntlet this season and the SEC, especially with your schedule, how has that prepared you for the tournament?
Booker: “The SEC I think is one of the best conferences in the world for basketball, for sure. But I feel like other conferences are so different from the SEC. SEC is much more physical and a little quicker… I feel like if we’ve been through the war already. When we play teams outside of SEC, we can definitely use the physicality and the speed to our advantage, pressure the ball more. We’ve had games where we had to play some good defense and we’ve done it before. So we have the film, we have the losses. We’ve learned from that of course. And I think we just can use that to our advantage.”
Q: During the SEC Tournament semifinal game against Ole Miss game, there was a clip of you in the huddle, speaking to your teammates. Do you feel like your leadership has evolved over the course of the season?
Booker: “I think it has. I watched Rori (Harmon) a lot, just being a leader and I just kind of stood there. So I kind of just found myself coming to conferences, be more vocal with my team. They already told me that they would listen to me. So yeah, I definitely just used it for positive vibes, just like an extra push. So the Ole Miss game (on March 7), I just felt like Ole Miss had a great… fourth quarter. And my whole message to him was just, ‘Hey, we’re good. We’re still by two. Let’s settle down. Let’s think about what happened and let’s reset and move forward.’ And I think that’s just my whole mentality with being a leader. It is just a game right now. Let’s just keep playing. Let’s not turn into many mistakes.”
Q: How has it been stepping into that role of being a more vocal leader if it hasn’t always come natural. How have you felt comfortable doing that?
Booker: “It hurts my vocal chords, honestly. I’m not a big talker at all, but I can tell when I do talk, it definitely spreads throughout the team. It is higher energy, it’s much more talking. I think we started having fun with then everybody started talking. Practice is fun, games are fun. I mean, we’re winning. I think we’re clicking the right times, we’re making shots, we’re playing great defense. But yeah, it kind of just changes when it’s just not one person talking with more than one person talking.”
Q: You and Rori (Harmon) have formed a one-two punch this season and she’s playing in her final March Madness tournament. What has she meant to this team and what do you think she’ll bring to a WNBA team?
Booker: “Oh my gosh. She has meant a lot to this program and college. I believe Rori (Harmon’s) normal, the usual she has for herself on protection particularly, I do not suppose anyone else within the nation has that normal. She desires to protect the most effective participant… If you are the most effective participant on the team, for those who say you are finest pal within the nation, she desires to protect you. And after I got here right here, I appeared as much as her as a result of her mentality, the usual right here, her work ethic is off the charts. And I believe that is one thing that individuals actually do not see. They simply see her enjoying protection and her getting steals and breaking information, however she’s actually the vitality of this team. When she goes, we go. When her protection is on level, I believe we’re probably the greatest groups within the nation.
But for a WNBA team, I believe folks would like to have her. I imply, she’s actually a degree guard. Point God, I’d say. She might do something on the court docket. She can get your team going. She can play protection and she or he simply do not get herself going, however she has a team going. That’s the influence she has as a participant. But I believe any W team would like to have her.”
Q: What has Coach Vic Schaefer meant to you guys during this time?
Booker: “He’s educating you life. Life is usually not truthful. He teaches about laborious work, laborious get you something you need in life with basketball, however you are all the time within the health club. The sport will reward you some kind of manner. But yeah, he’s these issues. He works laborious. He has a ardour for the sport. He by no means takes a time off and it is rewarding him. I believe he is perhaps a Hall of Fame coach at some point, actually, for faculty basketball. But yeah, he is meant rather a lot. He’s taught numerous classes. My favourite phrase from him is that is how life is y’all and that’s how life is. But no, he is meant rather a lot. He’s an important coach. I do not remorse coming right here in any respect. And hopefully I can win him a nationwide championship.”
Q: What would it mean to bring a national championship to Texas for the first time? And like you said, 40 years, what would that mean to you?
Booker: “Quite a bit. I’d like to see 2026 up there on the observe wall or within the Moody Center. It would simply velocity a cherry on high. I really feel like we labored so laborious this season. I really feel like y’all watch us play and y’all like, gosh, you did not even get drained. I used to be urgent 40 minutes. But I do not suppose y’all see how laborious we work out. Our conditioning days are earlier than the season. How many instances we’re within the health club, what number of hours we’re within the health club. We are working so laborious only for that finish objective. And I believe it could simply be an indication or a pat on the again, like, “We did it, y’all.”
Q: You turned the primary athlete to signal with Kevin Durant as collaboration with Nike and Texas. What was it like working with Durant as somebody who’s actually been in your sneakers?
Booker: “It is still surreal. I can’t believe that really happened… Signing with my favorite player, his shoe deal and stuff like that, that means a lot. I love wearing KDs. I wear ’em all the time. But yeah, just for him to also take notice and pick me before his starter, it means a lot. I have no words honestly. It is a lot.”
Q: Has Kevin Durant given you any suggestions or recommendation for the match or something that you simply wish to use?
Booker: “His words is just go take it. They go give it to you. Go take it. That’s literally what he just said the other day to me.”
Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at chenderson@gannett.com and observe her on X at@CydHenderson.
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