As it chases its first national championship in 40 years this season, Texas women’s basketball will do so with 13 players on the roster.
Is that enough firepower? Head coach Vic Schaefer seems to think so.
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Texas basketball players Rori Harmon (#3) and Madison Booker (#35) have played just 15 games together in college. Both players were voted onto the SEC’s preseason basketball team.
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Ahead of UT’s second practice of the season Wednesday, Schaefer told reporters that he likes his team’s depth. Texas enters the encore to last year’s Final Four run with a remade roster that features key returnees such as Madison Booker and Rori Harmon, four transfers and two freshmen.
“I feel like we’re two-deep at a lot of positions, and three-deep at some,” Schaefer said. “I like the versatility that we have. We have some players that can play multiple positions, and I think that’ll bode well for us. I do like our depth, and I like the versatility of several of our kids. It’ll allow us to do some things and kind of mess with the lineup a little bit.”
Texas Longhorns guard Rori Harmon (3) dribbles the ball towards the Ilinois basket during the second round NCAA playoff game at the Moody Center on Monday, March 24, 2025.
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On paper, 13 players might certainly be enough especially when one of those players is a two-time All-American like Booker, and Harmon is about to break Kamie Ethridge’s longstanding school record for career assists. Transfers Breya Cunningham (Arizona), Teya Sidberry (Boston College) and Ashton Judd (Missouri) all started at their old schools and freshman Aaliyah Crump was the No. 5 recruit in her class. Senior center Kyla Oldacre closed out last year on a tear, and Texas expects sophomore-season strides to be made by Jordan Lee, Justice Carlton and Bryanna Preston.
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Besides, Schaefer hasn’t been known for playing a long bench during his time at Texas. Last season, just eight players averaged 10 minutes per game in conference play while also playing in half of the team’s league contests. That number was also eight during the 2023-24, 2022-23 and 2021-22 seasons.
Injuries happen (knock on wood). Of all teams, Texas knows this. Veteran forward Aaliyah Moore missed the final 18 games last season with a knee injury and expected starter Laila Phelia’s season never really got going because of an eye issue. Two seasons ago, Harmon had her National Player of the Year campaign derailed by an ACL tear. An intramuscular hematoma sidelined then-starter Sonya Morris down the stretch during the 2022-23 season.
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That injury bug has already bitten Texas in the leadup to this season. Oldacre injured her ankle at last month’s Globl Jam tournament in Canada. The 6-foot-6 center isn’t working out yet although she has plenty of time to mend before UT opens its season Nov. 3.
The Texas roster also features a few wildcards. Senior guard Sarah Graves is a former walk-on who has played 35 minutes since she joined the team in 2022. Schaefer has said Florida Atlantic transfer Lovisa Asbrink Hose is a redshirt candidate, and the Longhorns’ sixth-year coach assessed this week that freshman Grace Prenter is “playing catch-up a little bit” after moving to Texas from Ireland this summer.
Texas Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer speaks to the media during a press conference at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama ahead of the Longhorns’ NCAA Division I Basketball Playoff Regional Semi-final game. Texas will face Tennessee in the Sweet 16 on Saturday afternoon.
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Size of Texas roster matches national trends
This will actually be the second-smallest roster of the Schaefer era at Texas. Schaefer had just 12 players to coach during his first year with the Longhorns, but each of his subsequent rosters featured 14 or 15 names (UT is allowed to have 15 scholarship athletes on its team).
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But this may just be a sign of the times for college basketball in the age of the transfer portal, NIL and revenue-sharing. Ethridge, who is entering her eighth season as the head coach at Washington State, recently told the Seattle Times that she’ll play only with a dozen players this season because “you just can’t keep people happy when you have a 13- or 14-man roster.” The Arizona Daily Star quoted then-Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors in 2024 as saying “(My dad) was not a religious man at all. I don’t think he ever stepped foot a day in the church. But he said, ‘Boy, Jesus was the greatest leader ever and he couldn’t keep 12 dudes happy. What makes you think you can?’”
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Schaefer has continually argued that it has become harder to get athletes to buy into a lengthy development plan. He enters this season having had all three members of his 2022 recruiting class transfer out before their senior years.
“I mean, let’s just look at football. That fifth-year offensive lineman that walked on and by the time they’re a junior, they’re scholarship, and by the time they’re a senior, they’re a starter that fifth year, I just think those days are over,” Schaefer said. “Same is true in basketball.”
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Of the four teams that reached the Final Four last year, only UConn plans on having 15 players on its roster this season. Texas has its 13, UCLA is playing with 12 and South Carolina has just 11.
Texas actually boasts one of the bigger rosters in the Southeastern Conference, trailing just Alabama (15), Texas A&M (15) and Tennessee (14). Like South Carolina, Oklahoma only has 11 players listed on its current roster.
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