Texas’ Harmon still big presence for Longhorns

Texas point guard Rori Harmon knew it was bad when her knee crumpled during a December pregame practice while doing a basketball move she’d done probably thousands of times.

“Nobody even touched me,” Harmon said. “But I knew ... .”

She was right. The leader of a Longhorns team that started the season as a favorite to reach the Final Four was done for the season with a torn ligament.

But after the initial tears from Harmon, her teammates and coach Vic Schaefer, she did not slink into the shadows of a long recovery.

Harmon has been front and center with Texas, cheering, coaching and mentoring hotshot freshman Madison Booker, who took over as team leader and has the No. 1 seed Longhorns (324) rolling into the Sweet 16 and a March Madness matchup with No. 4 Gonzaga (32-3) on Friday night.

Harmon said she can still be a “heartbeat” for a team chasing its first Final Four appearance since 2003.

“It’s not like I’m going to fall off the face of the Earth and never play again ... I can’t give up” on this season, Harmon said this week. “I still had to give my teammates my experience and knowledge and hear my voice.”

South Carolina

Te-Hina Paopao has given South Carolina a mature voice in the locker room and a sharpshooter from the outside.

Together, Paopao and South Carolina are four victories away from a perfect championship season, which would be the 10th ever in Division I women’s basketball. Paopao leads the country in 3-point shooting, making over 47% of her attempts this season.

Connecticut

Freshmen guards Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold have had a big impact for the injury-riddled Huskies in this year’s NCAA tournament. Shade has put up 45 points in for the No. 3-seeded Huskies in their first two tournament games. Arnold hit the key 3-pointer that propelled Connecticut to its 72-64 win against Syracuse. Connecticut’s freshmen were expected to ease their way into playing time this season. Injuries that have sidelined six Huskies forced Arnold and Shade into the lineup.

Alabama

Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is a game time decision for Alabama’s game against North Carolina on Thursday night.

Elsewhere

Three contestants in the ESPN Tournament Challenge went through the first two rounds of the women’s NCAA tournament without any misses.

Those three on the ESPN site were the only ones of 3.25 million brackets to accomplish that feat through Monday night’s action.

• Florida guard Riley Kugel, who was benched for two games during the Southeastern Conference tournament, this month is transferring.

Kugel announced his intention to enter the NCAA transfer portal on social media Wednesday.