Rori Harmon set to run it back for Year 5 at Texas

As the point guard had only played 12 games, the University of Texas pleaded for a medical redshirt with the NCAA. It was approved in August 2024, and then one question remained. One that not even Harmon knew the answer to — would she return for a fifth year?

Fast forward to this April. The Longhorns advanced to the Final Four for the first time in 22 years. They fell to South Carolina in the semifinals, but Harmon was still determined not to rush her decision. She wanted to take her time to evaluate what was best for her, and on April 9, she announced “the best” choice would be to run it back in Austin and spend another year in the Forty Acres.

A native of Houston, Harmon takes pride in her relationship with her family. Head coach Vic Schaefer started recruiting her while he was still with Mississippi State, and the stars aligned when Schaefer moved to Texas.

“I think everything happens for a reason,” Harmon told reporters on April 10. “God knows that I really love my family, and I like to be close to my family, and so when he came over to the University of Texas, I just thought ‘Everything happens for a reason.’ That was my reason. That’s what needed to happen.”

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While Rori rarely finds time to make the 2 1/2-hour trip to Houston, her parents Rodney and Shemeya Harmon put in the effort to make it to every home game at the Moody Center. They also travel to away games when possible — unless it’s a cold place. Their daughter doesn’t want them stuck in a snowstorm.

Her parents and older brother Rodney Jr. were the most important part of making the final decision, but she knew they would support her regardless.

“My family plays a really big part in a lot of my decisions, and I knew whatever I decided, they were going to support me no matter what,” she said. “They got really comfortable, of course, with being [in Austin] and they love the support I get, the caring people around me … They probably figured, without even me making my decision, that I’d probably take the extra year, just because they see how much I care about playing in college, and just getting back what was taken my junior year.”

Harmon knew her decision in Tampa, where the 2025 Final Four was held, but decided to keep it to herself as the team focused on winning. Right now, she decided, is time to take full advantage of the college experience, having graduated with her bachelor’s in kinesiology and health in three years. She will now complete her master’s in sports management in the fall.

The transfer portal never called her name, even after four years in the same program.

“There’s nothing better than Texas,” she said. “I wouldn’t settle for less.”

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The ultimate goal remains: to hear her name called in the WNBA Draft. But to play with the best, Harmon wants to be the best. With another year under Schaefer and a full devotion to the game, only taking the last two classes for her degree, she can reach that.

“The WNBA isn’t going anywhere,” Harmon said. “It’s going to only get better … That’s my main goal, and that’s any young girl’s goal is to get to that next level and get to that professional level, because that’s where the best of the best are. By taking this year in college, like I could work to that point and add more. You can’t pass up an opportunity to get the choice to play another year in college because it’s either now or you don’t come back. I didn’t want to have that regret.”