It was Dec. 27, 2023 when Rori Harmon, a junior point guard for the Texas Longhorns women’s basketball team, was practicing ahead of the start of conference play. Harmon, who was leading the NCAA in assist to turnover margin at the time, fell to the ground.

The diagnosis: a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. She was done for the year.

“There was blood in the water,” head Coach Vic Schaefer said. “We were trying to clean it up as quick as we could before the sharks got to us.”

But after a strong finish to last year and an offseason filled with recovery and recruiting, the water has cleared. 

Last year, Texas said farewell to the Big 12 as conference tournament champions and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA postseason, a first since 2004, without a point guard who was selected to The Athletic’s women’s college basketball preseason All-American team. The Longhorns would go on to win its first three tournament games by an average of over 24 points before falling to No. 3 NC State in the Elite Eight. 

“It was definitely hard,” said senior guard Shay Holle who has been a part of all three quarter-final runs. “You put so much time and effort into a season, and for it to end like that was obviously disappointing.”

Now, the college basketball season is a little over a month away, and Texas has the opportunity to get over the hurdle that is the Elite Eight game. The Longhorn squad returns most of its four leading scorers from last year with sophomore forward Madison Booker, senior forward Taylor Jones, and senior forward Aaliyah Moore. The ACL tear Harmon experienced last year appears to be healing well as the senior preseason All-American eyes a return on opening night.

“She looks good, she looks healthy,” Schaefer said. “She’s moving well, she’s eager, she’s confident, and so I see my old (Harmon) back.”

While Harmon has worked on her recovery, Schaefer and his team bulldozed through the recruiting trail, picking up the No. 9, No. 12 and No. 38 best freshmen in the country in guard Jordan Lee, forward Justice Carlton, and point guard Bryanna Preston, per Premier Basketball’s HoopGurlz.

 The Longhorns remained aggressive in the transfer portal as well, earning commitments from two highly touted transfer recruits in senior guard Laila Phelia and junior forward Kyla Oldacre.

 “We always use the portal to enhance what we already have,” Schaefer said. “Laila (Phelia) and Kyla (Oldacre) out of the portal really enhance our team. They make it better. They give us some experience where we need it.”

Texas has been knocking on the door of a Final Four appearance, but the bar is higher than ever this year. Schaefer had a simple way of explaining the expectations: to win the last game of the year.

“It’s not something that we run from. We try to run to it. We embrace the opportunity to be great,” Schaefer said. “Whether you’re one of the 52,000 students, or you’re one of the 21 head coaches here or one of the 650 student-athletes, the expectation here is to be great.”