Freshman forward Madison Booker passes the eye test as another point guard for No. 11 Texas

In the lead-up to this basketball season, Texas coach Vic Schaefer had an interesting observation.

"(Madison Booker is) probably the second-best passer on our team behind Rori (Harmon)," Schaefer told reporters in October.

Wait. Which Madison Booker are you talking about, Coach? The one who is just a freshman? The one who is listed on the Texas roster as a 6-foot-1 forward?

"You're probably going to see Madison play some point guard for us. She's very comfortable with the ball in her hands. She is really skilled, really talented," Schaefer continued.

Through three games this season, Booker has certainly made it look like Schaefer may know what he's talking about after nearly four decades in the coaching business. Texas has started Booker as a forward three times, but she has gotten plenty of opportunities to pass the basketball and spell Harmon, an All-American candidate, at the point guard position.

Booker has distributed 16 assists so far. And as Schaefer pointed out, Booker has looked comfortable out there.

Take UT's 110-64 win over UT Arlington on Tuesday. With nine seconds left in the first half, Booker took the inbound pass after the Lady Mavs scored, dribbled up the court and delivered a perfect bounce pass into the paint where Tionna Herron waited for the buzzer-beating layup. Later in the game, Booker backed up a UTA defender near the free-throw line, pivoted and fired the basketball to a cutting Harmon for an easy basket.

"She's really good at passing the ball. She's really good," said Schaefer before adding that UT radio commentator and former coach Kathy Harston "told me the other night she watched her coming down and she said, 'I'm pretty sure, Coach, I saw one eye looking this way and one eye looking this way as she made that pass.' She just sees the floor so well."

Booker is also averaging 10.7 points per game on 40% shooting. Her 16 assists rank behind just Harmon's 21 on the team.

A learning curve still exists, however. Booker has committed five turnovers, and Schaefer has reminded her that "you might have been able to do that in high school, but that ain't going to work here." Schaefer has also described the freshman as selfless to a fault and has campaigned for her to shoot instead of pass in some instances.

"I've definitely made some mistakes with some passes I make, but each game is a learning experience," Booker said. "Each and every day, I'm just learning how (my teammates) play and learning how I see the court."

The addition of Booker has given Texas a much-needed backup quarterback. The past two seasons, UT had to play traditional shooting guards Joanne Allen-Taylor and Shaylee Gonzales out of position when it needed someone not named Harmon to run its offense.

Texas has also been able to get creative when it has been able to play two capable passers in Harmon and Booker at the same time. Half of Booker's assists have been recorded when Harmon was also on the floor. The Longhorns have been able to mix and match plenty of lineups in three blowout wins this season over Southern, Liberty and UTA, but the team is a plus-63 in the roughly 55 minutes that Harmon and Booker have played together.

"They're both really smart and I love how they see the floor and how they look at the game," Texas sophomore Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda said. "I never have any loss of confidence whenever they take a shot, whenever they make a pass. I always think 100% that that's the perfect look, that's the perfect read."

Booker wears the No. 35 as a way to pay homage to former UT great Kevin Durant. Her favorite player growing up, though, was Rajon Rondo. Her mother loved to watch the Celtics, and Booker hung posters of Boston's all-star point guard on her bedroom wall. "I wanted to be like him," Booker recalled.

Booker has said that she's modeled parts of her game after both Rondo and Durant. She has also leaned on teachings from Harmon since she got to campus. This week, Booker said it's hard playing point guard for Schaefer but Harmon has "definitely been there when I need it."

"I'm trying to continue to give her that confidence," Harmon said after Booker had 14 points and six assists in the UTA game. "Sometimes it's not always easy. It's very challenging to run point guard, but I'm going to always instill confidence in her. She knows she's already good. She just has to continue to try to be consistent and she had a very good game today."

Off to a 3-0 start this season, Texas is ranked 11th in the Associated Press poll. The Longhorns are the highest-ranked team from the Big 12, but the conference has combined for a 34-4 record and No. 21 Baylor, No. 25 Oklahoma and Kansas State have all beaten top-12 teams. This week, Kansas State and Baylor upset Utah and Iowa teams that were ranked second and fourth.

Texas will host Louisiana Tech (2-0) on Sunday afternoon. This is the first meeting since 2020 between two legacy programs that have recorded the fifth- and sixth-most wins in the history of women's college basketball.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball team getting point guard play from freshman forward