TAMPA, Fla. — On Thursday afternoon, Texas women's basketball players Shay Holle, Rori Harmon and Madison Booker walked into the media room at Amalie Arena for a press conference.
That scene wasn't unique. Superstitiously sitting to head coach Vic Schaefer's left and right each time, Harmon and Booker have participated in all but one of UT's press conferences in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Holle is a senior and a veteran in these settings.
But even though the podium that Booker, Harmon and Holle were sitting on looked much like the ones that the players have used at Moody Center and various venues outside of Austin, this stage was metaphorically bigger. On Thursday, the trio was speaking in preparation of the Final Four.
This is a new experience for the Longhorns. Texas last reached a Final Four in 2003 and there are no 22nd-year seniors on the roster. None of the three transfers made it to the Final Four at their previous stops, either.
Schaefer, though, isn't new to these streets. He has joined Gary Blair, Kim Mulkey, Marianne Stanley and C. Vivian Stringer as the only coaches to lead two different women's teams to the Final Four. He previously guided Mississippi State to the 2017 and 2018 national championship games. He was a longtime lieutenant for Blair at Arkansas and Texas A&M, so he also reached this stage of the NCAA Tournament with the Razorbacks in 1998 and with A&M's 2011 title team.
"But obviously he's been here before. That just means a lot," Harmon said. "That's kind of why we come to Texas, because he knows how to win."
Final Four foes Texas, South Carolina aren't strangers
If any of Schaefer's previous trips to the Final Four mirror this year's run, it may be the one from 2017. But that isn't because both Mississippi State and Texas played good defense and held their opponents to under 58 points per game. Nor was ...
