Vic Schaefer is confident ahead of Texas’ maiden SEC voyage

That question could follow Texas women’s basketball until its debut in the conference this winter. But what does it mean, exactly?

For head coach Vic Schaefer, being SEC-ready means being ready to play against the best teams in the country, and it starts with the players on his roster.

“Our job as coaches is to develop them and prepare them,” Schaefer told The Next in a sit-down interview. “And you better be ready in that league because … on any night, if you’re not ready to play, you won’t just get beat. You’ll get embarrassed.”

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Schaefer, who coached Mississippi State in the SEC for eight years and took the Bulldogs to two Final Fours, has no doubts his team is prepared for its new conference.

Texas lost key players to graduation and the transfer portal including guard Shaylee Gonzales, forward DeYona Gaston and forward Amina Muhammad. Still, the program added two McDonald’s All-Americans in freshmen Jordan Lee and Justice Carlton as well as two transfers, junior forward Kyla Oldacre out of Miami and senior guard Laila Phelia out of Michigan.

The Longhorns won the Big 12 Tournament in their final season in that conference and made the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The successful 2023-24 season came after star point guard Rori Harmon suffered a season-ending injury on Dec. 27, days before the start of conference play. Freshman forward Madison Booker took on the point guard role and shined despite being inexperienced in the position.

“The challenge now is everyone knows you’re coming,” Schaefer said about Booker. “You’re gonna be the first person they’re gonna talk about in a scouting report. So it’s going to be harder. It’s going to be even more of a challenge to repeat that. I’ve got to do a great job continuing to develop her. The beautiful thing about Madison is she’s such an unbelievable competitor.”

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Booker will likely return to her forward position as Harmon makes her way back. Nine months after her injury, Harmon is expected to play in the team’s season opener.

“She looks really good right now,” Schaefer said. “That’s what happens when you’re committed and devoted to your rehab, and she’s been unbelievable about it.”

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The duo of a healthy Harmon and a maturing Booker could be crucial in Texas’ tough conference schedule. In the SEC, Texas will play each team once as part of a round-robin format, except for one team it will play twice. For that extra matchup, the Longhorns got paired with none other than defending national champion South Carolina.

Texas will play head coach Dawn Staley‘s Gamecocks in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 12 and host the rematch at the Moody Center on Feb. 9. In addition, the Longhorns will host LSU, the 2023 national champion, on Feb. 16.

“I know our kids are excited about the challenge,” Schaefer said. “Obviously, two very tradition-rich, storied programs, great coaches. No doubt we’ll have to play that night.”

In 2023-24, Texas held its opponents to 57.7 points per game. If the Longhorns had been in the SEC then, they would’ve ranked second in the conference behind the Gamecocks, who allowed 56.6 points per game.

The Longhorns also beat almost every conference opponent at least once — the exception being the team moving to the SEC with them. Oklahoma won the regular-season championship after beating Texas twice in close matchups. Texas will make its SEC debut at Oklahoma on Jan. 2.

“You’d think they’d give us both a different opponent to open SEC play instead of having to play each other right off the bat,” Schaefer said, laughing. “It is what it is, and [Norman, Oklahoma,] is always a tough place to play. Coach [Jennie] Baranczyk does a heck of a job; she’s a hell of a coach. For being rivals, she and I have a pretty good relationship and a mutual respect for one another and each other’s program.

“We’ll have to be ready to play. It’s the conference opener [and] it’s on the road at a conference champion, so you better be ready to play right away.”

Although preseason polls aren’t out yet, the Longhorns were ranked No. 7 in the country in the AP’s last poll, released the day after the 2024 national championship game. They were the third-highest-ranked SEC team behind No. 1 South Carolina and No. 6 LSU, with the Sooners at No. 21.

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