TAMPA, Fla. − Not long after the Texas basketball season ended on Friday night, Rori Harmon fielded a question that she knew was coming.
Harmon sighed while teammates Taylor Jones and Shay Holle snickered as a question was asked about the point guard's future. What would her decision-making process look like in the upcoming days? Has Harmon's thinking changed since the successful return from a knee injury that ended her junior year?
Harmon replied that "I've been getting asked this quite a bit." And much like previous inquiries from the media, Harmon made it clear that this wasn't a decision that she would announce in a setting with reporters.
"It's a family decision, family thing to talk about," said Harmon, a fourth-year senior who could use the medical redshirt she received for the 2023-24 season. "I've got to really hone in on that, but that's not anything I want to tell to the public right now."
The WNBA typically grants the eligible players who play deep into the NCAA Tournament a 48-hour window after their season ends to decide whether or not they'll enter that league's draft. The WNBA Draft is set for April 14. Even if Harmon doesn't stick with the WNBA − she wasn't listed as a first-round pick in ESPN's most-recent mock draft − overseas opportunities will await if she chooses to chase a professional career.
Harmon could opt to enter the transfer porter and use her final year of eligibility elsewhere. That's the path that Olivia Miles, the former Notre Dame star, and Ta'Niya Latson, the country's leading scorer, chose to recently take. There would certainly be a market for a veteran point guard with Harmon's skillset, but would she want to play anywhere but Texas? That's unlikely.
"There's a legacy that you can make here and earn throughout this process. You can't really get a legacy when you jump school to school," Harmon said earlier this year when asked why she had remained at Texas for her entire college career. "I don't think the grass would be greener too many other places. I'm getting treated really well here. We're winning and we're getting better."
A return to Texas would make both sense and cents. If Harmon returned alongside All-American Madison Booker and key role players like Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, Jordan Lee and Kyla Oldacre, Texas would open next season as a certified championship contender. Harmon has also admitted that she does well in the NIL space so another year of college could be financially beneficial.
If Harmon decides to live in Austin for another year, she will also have a chance to reset the statistical standard for Texas point guards. Harmon exits this season with 731 career assists. In the Texas record books, that ranks behind just Kamie Ethridge's 776 assists. Harmon is already the only player in school history to score 1,000 points and distribute 700 assists in a career.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball player Rori Harmon set to weigh WNBA, college options
