Maddie Booker’s quiet role is speaking volumes in Texas’ national championship mission
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Madison Booker recognized the importance of the moment in front of her.
With Texas and Tennessee tied at 50 heading into the fourth quarter of Saturday afternoon’s Sweet 16 matchup, the Longhorns forward knew she needed to bring more for her teammates. Typically, Booker steps up by sinking smooth midrange jumpers or using her ranginess to slow the opponent she is guarding. But with the Longhorns’ season at a momentary inflection point, she stood up and spoke up.
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While coach Vic Schaefer was taking part in a mid-quarter TV interview, Booker told her teammates seated in front of her that they needed to focus more. She stressed the importance of valuing every possession, setting stronger and more effective screens, not forcing up shots amid the Lady Vols’ frenetic defense. They listened to her and beat Tennessee before moving on to defeat TCU in the Elite Eight.
Booker might not have been so vocal a year ago.
Only a sophomore, she has already emerged as one of the nation’s best players. She was named an AP All-American twice. She won at least a share of conference player of the year honors in two conferences. She is arguably college basketball’s most understated star — a player who has traded making headlines for making baskets, time and again.
Yet with Texas back in the Final Four for the first time since 2003, Booker is also primed to reintroduce herself. Her game will do the talking in Tampa, Fla. She is surely at the top of fellow No. 1 seed South Carolina’s game plan for Friday, but Booker’s voice is growing louder, too.
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“She’s always been somebody who has led by example,” assistant coach Blair Schaefer said. “Now, she is understanding the importance of bringing others along with her in this process. The vocal piece, that’s really the piece where she’s stepped up of late.”
The 6-foot-1 wing is still evolving as a leader. She recognizes that she isn’t the most outspoken. Booker said she’s more “lead by example.” But Texas coaches, and Booker, know the value of her words. Blair Schaefer reminds Booker: “You don’t say things a lot, but when you do, it carries weight, so you need to do that more often.” Booker hears Schaefer’s message. She is trying to find organic moments to speak up.
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Booker prides herself on her standout work ethic as the first quality people notice. Veteran Longhorns recall Booker’s first summer on campus, how she routinely urged her teammates to play more pickup with her and how she never wanted to sub out of anything. Booker credits star guard Rori Harmon for helping show her the way to lead, being the first in line for drills, in the treatment room or in the gym. Harmon deflects credit back to Booker. “She continues to get in the gym, remain humble and just play team basketball,” Harmon said.
Being comfortable around a coach she has long enjoyed watching has helped her impress. Before Booker blossomed into a Texas star of her own, she was merely a fan of what Vic Schaefer was accomplishing.
Growing up outside Jackson, Miss., Booker watched Schaefer’s Mississippi State teams make history. She describes in detail Victoria Vivians and Teaira McCowan leading the Bulldogs to their first Final Four in 2017, and then doing so again the next year. She remembers attending a football tailgate on an unofficial visit one September while still in middle school. “It’s about 105 (degrees) and the humidity is 110,” said Schaefer, who coached at Mississippi State from 2012 to 2020. “We’re sitting under a tent with no breeze. You’re thinking, here is a kid that’s in eighth grade. Five years from now, shoot, I hope we win enough and I still got a job.”
Booker has matured plenty since then, and her basketball sensibilities have evolved. When Booker was younger, she hated playing defense. She would tell her dad, “I’m not playing on that end.” Her dad would rebuff her request and tell her to run back. It’s a lesson that has proved crucial.
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Defense is a non-negotiable under Schaefer, who garnered a reputation as the “Secretary of Defense” as an Arkansas assistant in the late 1990s. Times have changed across college athletics, but Schaefer’s commitment to physical, aggressive defense hasn’t. It’s part of why Texas is back on the sport’s biggest stage. “Just to be able to play defense with my team, get stops as a team, get steals and get down the court fastbreak points, that’s fun,” Booker said.
Booker’s versatility helps unlock much of what the Longhorns do on the other end as well. When Harmon missed most of last season with an ACL tear, Booker slid to the point guard role and served as their lead playmaker. She can still orchestrate offense, but Texas frequently runs her off screens and allows her to create after sprinting off curls.
The Longhorns’ approach is merely finding ways to bring out the best in her. She averages a team-high 16.5 points and 2.8 assists while shooting 46.5 percent. “It’s about putting big-time players in different spots on the floor where they can be successful,” Blair Schaefer said. “It’s not really about Maddie being a four or a one or a two or a three.”
She added: “Maddie came into Texas with that dog mentality of just, ‘Coach me. Tell me what you need me to do. I’ll do it. I’ll be in the gym every single day. I’ll take the shots you want me to take. I trust you. I will listen to you.’”
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Vic Schaefer applauds Booker’s continued evolution. When reflecting on her journey from middle school recruit to Texas star, the 64-year-old coach spoke about her for more than four uninterrupted minutes.
“I really believed she could be what she is today,” he said. “Her jersey can hang in the Moody (Center) when she is done. She is that good. She is that talented. That’s special when you have an opportunity to leave a legacy, be that talented and that good at a place like Texas, where we have had a bunch, a bunch of really special players.”
Booker has already left a lasting impact on the program. But how she speaks up and steps up at the Final Four will go a long way in shaping any future commemorative speeches.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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