Texas freshman Madison Booker should be the Big 12 womens' player of the year | Bohls

While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:

Book it: Texas' Madison Booker is the Big 12's best

1. No mystery: Madison Booker should be the Big 12 player of the year. Period. There, I said it. She’s been all-everything for the Texas women’s basketball team and the biggest reason the Longhorns are No. 3 in the nation. As a freshman, she’s had to step in for Rori Harmon 17 games ago after the Longhorns' star point guard suffered a season-ending knee injury, abandon her small forward natural position, and has checked every box. Vic Schaefer for sure is in her corner. “I’m not trading Madison Booker for anyone,” he said Monday before Texas’ showdown for first place in the league with Oklahoma on Wednesday. “She’s a first-team All-American. She runs our team. She leads our team in scoring. She can go get you 10 rebounds. Madison Booker is the best.” Asked if she should be the league’s POY, he said, “Absolutely. Who’s made a bigger impact on their team’s success and is involved in so many categories positively? Who’s better at getting others their shot, creating her own shot and can score in so many different ways?” … However, there’s a chance OU’s Nevaeh Tot, who had 10 assists and zero turnovers in an earlier win over Texas, could best Booker for All-Big 12 point guard, especially if the Sooners win the league. After all, she leads the league in assists to turnover margin at 2.5 (Booker is at 1.6), but Tot has more help with four teammates who can absolutely bomb from deep range. “I have complete respect for Tot, and she is really good for their team. But Madison is one of the best players in the country. We had to give her a three-day crash course in what she’s doing right after Rori went down.”

Texas softball is on the rise

2. Look out, OU: Texas softball is coming. The Longhorns are No. 2 in the nation. Reese Atwood is on fire with RBIs in 12 of Texas' 13 games and has 10 multi-RBI games. And Mike White has found a pitching gem in freshman Teagan Kavan on a pitching-rich squad. The 6-foot ace threw six career no-hitters and struck out 1,444 batters in 773 innings for her club team and gives the Longhorns a power arm they needed. Now is Texas at the same level as the dynastic, top-ranked Sooners, who are 14-0 and have extended their win streak to 67 in a row dating to last season? Let’s wait on that prognostication because OU just won all five games of the Mary Nutter Classic by a 42-5 margin and even have newcomers like freshmen Kasidi Pickering (.471) and Ella Parker (.412) crushing it.

More: Where Texas basketball stands in March Madness bracket predictions after loss to Kansas

A stumbling start for Austin FC

3. ML-Less: As MLS season-openers go, Austin FC’s first crack at it came up woefully short. The Verde & Black offense was never in sync and didn’t produce a goal until newcomer Guilherme Biro’s shot in the final seconds of stoppage time. The pressure only figures to build on Josh Wolff, who is starting his fourth season and eager to put last year’s 10-win season behind him. To his credit, he didn’t hide his disdain for his club’s lackluster play in the first half, but has to take a lot of the blame, too, for not having his team ready and not making changes in the lineup to start the second half. “It’s one game and there’s certainly some discussion points with the guys,” Wolff said, “and what I like was the reaction and introduction of some other guys. We’ve got to get some guys fit, and that should help us in the long run.” What was both encouraging and discouraging was the fact the offseason acquisitions, including Diego Rubio, Jáder Obrian and Biro, played much better than the regulars and “injected some life” into an otherwise lethargic performance with more spirited and connected play in the second half. “They were solid,” Wolff said. “We got what we expected from them. There was an urgency and intent right away.” … Oh, and as for the complaints about delays with the new CapMetro Red Line depositing upward of 4,000 fans at the $60 million McKalla Station, if some didn’t arrive until late in the first half, they should count themselves lucky. … Also I do not care for the light green kits unveiled Saturday because the numbers are too hard to see. But then maybe they wanted to remain incognito after getting blasted by Wolff and even injured captain and star Sebastián Druissi, who called the opening half “45 wasted minutes.” Verde has performed more admirably before when Druissi was missing, posting a 3-3-1 record before Saturday’s loss, but this wasn’t one of those nights. While it was depressing to let Minnesota escape with a 2-1 victory for the full three points, and even moreso since the Loons were without their new manager and their top two offensive threats. It doesn’t get any easier since on Saturday Austin visits the Seattle Sounders, who will be angry after a 2-1 loss to LAFC but was without five key starters, including their goalkeeper and two midfielders.

This presidential poll has the other Roosevelt as my No. 1

4. POTUS with the mostest: My wife and I are die-hard fans of “CBS Sunday Morning” and consider it the best show on television. They had a segment last weekend on Martin Van Buren, the second shortest president ever at 5-foot-6 (James Madison was 5-4), who invented the two-party system and was among the first to have a flush toilet. Where else will you learn this stuff? Made me start thinking of the most sports-minded presidents ever since we celebrate Presidents Day in February. No. 1 on my list was Teddy Roosevelt, who saved college football when he arranged a summit of coaches at the White House after 19 players died in 1905 and helped institute new rules like the forward pass and the first down to make the game safer. My next four are Rangers part-owner George W. Bush, who famously threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium (while wearing a bulletproof vest because of 9/11) before the 2001 World Series; Gerald Ford, the only All-American football player/president who was the MVP of his national champion Michigan team and, also before the 1976 Texas-OU game coin toss, stood between an irate Darrell Royal and OU coach Barry Switzer during their feud over Sooners spying; Richard Nixon, who was a reserve linebacker at Whittier College but routinely suggested plays to then-Redskins coach George Allen and personally awarded the Longhorns a No. 1 plaque after their win over Arkansas in 1969; and golfing enthusiast Dwight Eisenhower (who was a member at Augusta and had his golf balls painted black so he could find them in the snow), who was a linebacker/halfback at Army and a fencer and a boxer. Sorry, Donald Trump, who played tennis and squash at Fordham and tried to buy the Bills and the Colts, didn’t make the cut. Unfortunately, neither did Ronald Reagan despite playing The Gipper.

Texas baseball's bats are hot to start the season

5. No doubting Thomas: If you missed Cedric Golden’s and my “On Second Thought “ podcast last week, you didn’t catch some wisdom from former three-time Longhorns All-American Keith Moreland’s astute observations about the Texas baseball team. He raved about Jared Thomas’s future after hitting .571 so far with five doubles, 12 runs and one homer. “He’s going to have a long, long baseball career, and he’ll be an outfielder probably because he doesn’t have enough pop to be a corner infielder,” Moreland said. “He’s got tremendous plate recognition of pitches, and he doesn’t go out of the zone and chase pitches. He uses the whole field, and he’s got a chance to hit .400 this year.” Moreland also loves Jalin Flores’ pop after watching him hit a grand slam in the opening weekend and two so far in seven games. “When he squares it up, there’s a different sound to it. I think he’s a 10 to 15-homer guy.” … Moreland is concerned about Tanner Witt’s current status because he looked so uncomfortable in his first start. “He just didn’t look right.” He does like the looks of Lucas Harrison and loves the physical nature of so many of David Pierce’s players. “David wants physical guys, and that’s what you have to have to compete in the SEC.”

Golden: Texas baseball is winning, but these next five games will be a serious early test

Just stay off the damn court

6. Court firestorm: Yes, the coaches are up in arms over the dangers of court-storming after Duke’s Kyle Filipowski injured his knee when he got caught up in Wake Forest fans’ on-court celebration. His coach, Jon Scheyer, petitioned for a total ban of the practice, and Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne even advocates a forfeiture of the game. The habit has become tiresome and overly used, but television loves the theatrics. Some think we should go the way of a European style-soccer punishment of making the offending team play its next home game in an empty arena. I do like that idea more than a forfeit. I do like the SEC fans varying from $100,000 for a first offense jumping to half a mil for the third and beyond. And I’d love to see an official’s timeout in the final seconds of a game where the outcome is no longer in doubt (maybe at least a seven-point lead with five seconds left) whereas the visiting team can leave the floor. I’d expect some strong solutions before next season, maybe even expulsion from future attendance or expulsion from school.

Words of wisdom from Dan Hurley

7. Wise want-to: Very interesting interview of Dan Hurley on GameDay last Saturday. Love his tough-minded style. “My job is to make my players feel uncomfortable and do things they don’t want to do,” he said. “It sucks around here when we lose.” He preaches accountability. He also said he spent 75 minutes in a video session so his team could meticulously review the upset by Creighton and said the Huskies watched every bad clip. “You have to prepare at a championship level,” Hurley said.

Whatever happened to ...

8. Scattershooting. While wondering whatever happened to former slugger Barry Bonds.

Meanwhile, from the greatest seat in the world ...

9. On the couch: Rented “Anatomy of a Fall” on AppleTV. This exploration into relations, be it husband-wife, wife-son, son-dog, her career-his career with the mysterious death of the husband is fascinating with a lot of flashbacks and possibilities. I wouldn’t call this mostly courtroom drama Oscar-worthy, and it didn’t provide satisfying closure. But the acting is top-flight. Even Snoop the dog deserved a nomination. Gave it seven ducks.

A bright horizon for Adonai Mitchell

Crazy prediction: Texas wideout Adonai Mitchell’s draft stock will rise dramatically after the NFL combine into the top half of the first round despite a wide receiver-rich class.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women's basketball freshman Madison Booker one of Big 12's best