When Jordan Lee chose South Carolina over staying in Austin, it wasn’t just a transfer portal headline — it was the moment that crystallized the scale of the challenge now sitting squarely in front of Vic Schaefer as he attempts to rebuild a Texas Longhorns program that, just a season ago, was competing at the highest level of women’s college basketball.
The losses are significant. The questions are real. And the answers Schaefer finds this offseason will define whether Texas remains a national contender or spends next season fighting to reclaim its seat at the table.
Counting The Losses — The Full Picture
Let’s be precise about the scope of what Texas is replacing, because the numbers tell a sobering story.
Jordan Lee — the player ESPN’s Charlie Creme called “the best two-way player in the portal” and the No. 2 ranked transfer in the entire country — is gone. She didn’t just leave Texas. She walked directly into the arms of South Carolina, the program’s chief SEC rival, carrying with her an intimate knowledge of Schaefer’s system, personnel, and tendencies. That particular departure stings on multiple levels simultaneously.
Rori Harmon — the starting point guard whose fallaway baseline jumper in Las Vegas handed Texas one of its signature wins over South Carolina — has moved on, leaving an enormous leadership and playmaking void at the most important position on the floor. Harmon was the engine of everything Texas did offensively. Replacing that combination of experience, composure, and clutch production is not a one-offseason project.
Kyla Oldacre — another key starter in the Longhorns’ rotation — also departs, further thinning a frontline that will need significant reinforcement.
And then there are Justice and Aaliyah — two players who started at various points throughout the season, providing depth, versatility, and the kind of roster continuity that coaches rely on to maintain a standard from year to year. Their departures, combined with the losses above, mean Texas is essentially rebuilding half of its competitive identity from scratch.
Five meaningful contributors gone. Two starters returning. The math is daunting.
What Schaefer Has To Work With — The Foundation
Before declaring the Longhorns in crisis, it is important to acknowledge what remains — because what remains is genuinely significant.
Madison Booker is the cornerstone. One of the most talented and versatile players in the entire country, Booker’s return gives Texas a legitimate star around whom an entire offensive and defensive system can be constructed. Her ability to impact the game at multiple levels, create for herself and others, and elevate the players around her means the Longhorns are never going to be a program lacking in individual talent at the top of the roster as long as she is in Austin.
Breya Cunningham returning in the frontcourt provides physical continuity and a proven interior presence that many programs rebuilding at this level would envy. Cunningham’s ability to rebound, protect the paint, and anchor a defense gives Schaefer a reliable anchor as he builds the new pieces around her.
And then there is Bryana Preston — the point guard who has been waiting in the wings and is now ready to step into the starting role vacated by Harmon. Preston’s ascension is one of the most critical storylines of Texas’s entire offseason. How quickly she seizes the moment, establishes command of the offense, and develops the kind of trust with her teammates that Harmon built over multiple seasons will go a long way toward determining what kind of team the Longhorns actually are when November arrives.
The honest assessment is that two returning starters and a ready-made starting point guard is a better foundation than many programs get when facing this level of roster turnover. But in the SEC — where the competition for top-four status is ruthless and unforgiving — foundations only take you so far.
The Incoming Class — Everything Depends On This
With the veteran core stripped back considerably, Schaefer’s ability to identify, recruit, and rapidly integrate incoming freshmen and transfer additions becomes the defining variable of Texas’s 2025-26 season. This is not an overstatement — it is the central truth of where the program currently stands.
The critical questions facing every new addition are the same ones that define roster transitions at every level of the sport. How quickly can the incoming freshmen process the speed and physicality of Big 12 and SEC-level competition? Can the transfer additions adapt their games to Schaefer’s system fast enough to contribute meaningfully from the opening tip? Will the chemistry between the veterans and the newcomers develop organically, or will it be a work in progress deep into the season?
These are not questions with predetermined answers. They are questions that get answered on the floor, over the course of practices and early-season games, through the kind of adversity that tests rosters built from multiple different backgrounds and traditions.
What is clear is that Schaefer — a coach with a proven track record of building and rebuilding competitive programs — is not going to accept a transition year without a fight. His recruiting approach, his development philosophy, and his ability to maximize what he has available have been demonstrated repeatedly throughout his career. The question is not whether he will compete. The question is how quickly he can make the new pieces feel like the old ones.
The Top-4 Question — Realistic Or Wishful Thinking?
Here is the uncomfortable truth that Texas fans are going to have to sit with as the offseason progresses: beginning the season as a top-four program in women’s college basketball is not guaranteed given the current state of the roster.
The SEC landscape heading into next season is as loaded as it has ever been. South Carolina — armed with Jordan Lee and the deepest guard rotation in the country — is going to be formidable. LSU, Tennessee, and others are not standing still. Earning a top-four national ranking requires not just talent but proven, cohesive, battle-tested roster construction — and Texas, by the nature of its departures, is going to need time to develop those qualities with its new group.
That does not mean Texas cannot be a top-four program by the end of the season. Programs with Booker’s caliber of star player always have a pathway. But the beginning of the season is likely to tell a more honest story about where the Longhorns actually are — and expecting that story to start at the summit may be setting an expectation the roster isn’t yet equipped to meet.
A more realistic trajectory might look like a program that starts the season working through its identity, battles through the inevitable growing pains of heavy roster turnover, and builds toward something genuinely competitive by conference tournament time. That is not failure — that is the natural arc of a program navigating significant change under an experienced and capable coach.
What Schaefer Does Next — The Blueprint
Vic Schaefer’s response to this moment will be fascinating to watch unfold. His options are clear even if none of them are simple.
He needs a transfer addition at guard who can provide veteran leadership and scoring punch alongside Booker and Preston — someone who can absorb the minutes Lee occupied and bring a level of competitive experience that freshmen simply cannot provide immediately. He needs to develop his frontcourt depth around Cunningham with players who can contribute defensively and on the glass without requiring extensive adjustment periods.
And perhaps most importantly, he needs to build a culture and an identity for this new group quickly — because in the SEC, opponents will probe for uncertainty and exploit teams that haven’t yet figured out who they are.
The Jordan Lee departure was a blow. The broader roster turnover compounds it significantly. But the program’s foundation — Booker, Cunningham, Preston, and Schaefer’s coaching pedigree — is solid enough to build from.
The Bottom Line
Texas women’s basketball is not broken. But it is at a genuine crossroads — one that requires Schaefer to do some of the best work of his coaching career to keep the Longhorns competitive while integrating substantial roster change in one of the most demanding conferences in the sport.
Madison Booker gives them a star. Breya Cunningham gives them a frontcourt anchor. Bryana Preston gives them a point guard ready for her moment. The new additions — whoever they turn out to be — will give them either a foundation or a ceiling.
How far Texas goes next season will depend almost entirely on how fast those new additions feel like old teammates.
Vic Schaefer has rebuilt before. The question is whether he can do it fast enough to keep Austin relevant while South Carolina — armed with the player he just lost — chases a fourth national championship. 🏀🤘
