From earning the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year and being on the brink of reaching a national championship game to losing three core players after a Final Four defeat, the Texas Longhorns experienced a complete 180 from what they aspired to achieve last season. While most programs would make this a convenient excuse for their shortcomings, the No.6-ranked program isn’t backing down, with Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer having a trump card in his arsenal.

That card is Madison Booker, who seems to have a Stephen Curry-esque image in the coach’s mind.

“Madison (Booker) has really worked hard on her game, and she’s got green lights to shoot it from anywhere, anytime,” the Longhorns head coach said, per The Daily Texan’s Paige Durrenberger on X.

After getting knocked out of the Final Four, the Longhorns lost Jordan Lee to South Carolina, Aaliyah Crump to Duke and Justice Carlton to Houston. But entering her senior year with the Longhorns, Booker is expected to play her best basketball as the program’s leader. And as the heart of the program, Booker knows college basketball waits for no one. She seemed little interested in looking back.

“I mean, that’s their journey,” Booker said about her former teammates, per the Associated Press. “What they thought is going to be better for their journey is what they thought. I’m supporting them always.”

The only time Booker is looking back is to get rid of the ghosts of her past, that being her Final Four performance against UCLA last season. Booker had one of the worst games of her career, shooting just 3-of-23 from the field with 17 consecutive misses.

“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.

We already saw a glimpse of Booker relieving herself of her past mistakes. In the recent 81-64 exhibition win against UCLA, Booker scored 21 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two blocks, a stark contrast to her Final Four performance. The Longhorns also won against Baylor but lost 83-61 to Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies. While the loss determined what the Longhorns need to work on, the wins showed the offensive mentality Schaefer wants to form his team’s identity.

However, it would be ignorant to assume the Longhorns won’t feel the absence of their former stars. After all, all three played a big role in chasing the Longhorns’ first national championship in the past four decades. Jordan Lee combined exceptional perimeter defense with 13.2 points last season, becoming the Longhorns’ No. 2 scoring leader. And while injuries limited Clump last season, she was one of the top high school recruits.

Apart from the three former Longhorns, Rori Harmon also left for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, who is the only Division I player in history with over 1,600 points, 950 assists, 600 rebounds, and 375 steals. Losing that volume of production will not be easy to replace, but the Longhorns head coach feels Bryanna Preston and Breya Cunningham are also ready to step up and run the show and set a good example for the seven players he added in the offseason after losing the three core stars.

“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, but admitted that Harmon’s defensive abilities will be missed.

But Booker also has experience filling in Harmon’s role. During her freshman year, she took over Harmon’s point guard duties when Harmon was sidelined with a knee injury. Regardless, Booker has her own milestones to reach. The senior player is just 31 points away from becoming the program’s fourth career 2,000-point scorer. More importantly, after coming agonizingly close to reaching the final last season, Booker took a month off and returned with the motivation of bringing home the national championship.

“In my mind, Madison Booker is the best player in the country,” Schaefer said.

Madison Booker and the Texas Longhorns tip off their season opener against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights on Wednesday at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

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