Booker’s ‘baptism by fire’ was scrimmage vs. USC
The Texas and USC women’s basketball teams both enter the NCAA Tournament as No. 1 seeds and national championship contenders.
Back in October, the Longhorns and Trojans met in a preseason scrimmage in Las Vegas behind closed doors. No game stats were ever released and not much was said about that day, but UT coach Vic Schaefer recently let one scrimmage detail be known: Madison Booker didn’t play well.
Booker, who went on to become the Big 12’s co-player of the year, the Big 12’s freshman of the year and a second-team All-American, played only eight minutes in the scrimmage. The freshman quickly got into foul trouble and eventually fouled out.
It was, in Schaefer’s view, “her baptism into this level.”
In the scrimmage, Booker was being used as a wing player, but she has since taken over point guard duties and is averaging 16.9 points, 4.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds. Her 559 points and 162 assists are top-four totals for a Texas freshman.
So what did Booker learn in that USC scrimmage? Was it indeed an on-court baptism?
“That was kind of a bad moment,” she recalled earlier this month. “I kind of did foul out, didn’t really play the best. I watched the film, I cringed at it, and I told myself I was going to get better from that game. It’s been happening. Every step, every day was better than that first game, that first scrimmage.”
The Trojans, of course, had their own fantastic freshman playing in that scrimmage. JuJu Watkins, now a star guard, earned first-team All-American honors this week.
Booker was asked last weekend if she felt overshadowed by Watkins, who has won most of the national freshman of the year awards, and Notre Dame freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo, who has similarly received a lot of praise. Booker said she didn’t.
In fact, she said she’s friendly with both players and that she played with Hidalgo on Team USA’s FIBA World Cup-winning squad last summer.
“I’m cool with both of them,” Booker said. “Hannah’s like my best friend. I’m proud of them. We grew up together. (We’re) very competitive. They’ve been good; I love watching their game. I try to learn something from their game, too.”
Texas (30-4) will host 16th-seeded Drexel (19-14) in a first-round game Friday at Moody Center. USC (26-5) will open its tournament run Saturday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.