The Texas Longhorns Women’s basketball team will start the season ranked No. 3 in the first USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll of the year. The Lady Longhorns are trying to build on last season’s appearance in the Final Four.
The Lady Horns are led by sophomore forward Madison Booker. The two-time SEC Player of the Year averaged 16.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last year, with a 46.4 shooting percentage from the field. A true inside, outside presence.
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This will also be the last hurrah for guard Rori Harmon. Harmon announced she would return to Texas for one more year after last season ended with a national semifinal loss to South Carolina. Harmon has rewritten the record books during her time with the Longhorns. She is the only player in program history to score at least 1,200 points and have 600 assists. The Cypress Creek High School product will enter her fifth season with Texas as the Longhorns’ all-time assist leader.
To no one’s surprise UConn and South Carolina are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the preseason poll. UCLA and LSU round out the top five.
There are eight SEC teams ranked in the preseason poll, including Oklahoma at No. 7 and Tennessee at No. 9.
USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll: Women’s Basketball
Preseason results: Published October 23, 2025
|
Rank |
Team |
Record |
PTS |
1st |
Prev |
Chg |
Hi/Lo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
0-0 |
772 |
28 |
NR |
– |
1/1 |
|
|
2 |
0-0 |
741 |
3 |
NR |
– |
2/2 |
|
|
3 |
0-0 |
688 |
0 |
NR |
– |
3/3 |
|
|
4 |
0-0 |
686 |
0 |
NR |
– |
4/4 |
|
|
5 |
0-0 |
628 |
0 |
NR |
– |
5/5 |
|
|
6 |
0-0 |
594 |
0 |
NR |
– |
6/6 |
|
|
7 |
0-0 |
559 |
0 |
NR |
– |
7/7 |
|
|
8 |
0-0 |
516 |
0 |
NR |
– |
8/8 |
|
|
9 |
0-0 |
509 |
0 |
NR |
– |
9/9 |
|
|
10 |
0-0 |
487 |
0 |
NR |
– |
10/10 |
|
|
11 |
0-0 |
431 |
0 |
NR |
– |
11/11 |
|
|
12 |
0-0 |
390 |
0 |
NR |
– |
12/12 |
|
|
13 |
0-0 |
351 |
0 |
NR |
– |
13/13 |
|
|
14 |
0-0 |
346 |
0 |
NR |
– |
14/14 |
|
|
15 |
0-0 |
322 |
0 |
NR |
– |
15/15 |
|
|
16 |
0-0 |
291 |
0 |
NR |
– |
16/16 |
|
|
17 |
0-0 |
285 |
0 |
NR |
– |
17/17 |
|
|
18 |
0-0 |
282 |
0 |
NR |
– |
18/18 |
|
|
19 |
0-0 |
198 |
0 |
NR |
– |
19/19 |
|
|
20 |
0-0 |
164 |
0 |
NR |
– |
20/20 |
|
|
21 |
0-0 |
148 |
0 |
NR |
– |
21/21 |
|
|
22 |
0-0 |
113 |
0 |
NR |
– |
22/22 |
|
|
23 |
0-0 |
91 |
0 |
NR |
– |
23/23 |
|
|
24 |
0-0 |
82 |
0 |
NR |
– |
24/24 |
|
|
25 |
0-0 |
76 |
0 |
NR |
– |
25/25 |
Others Receiving Votes
West Virginia 72; Richmond 67; Michigan State 64; Alabama 40; South Dakota State 19; Florida State 15; Princeton 9; Creighton 9; Washington 8; Indiana 7; Stanford 4; James Madison 4; Nebraska 2; South Florida 1; Minnesota 1; George Mason 1; Fairfield 1; California 1;
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List Of Voters
The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The board for the 2025-26 season: Octavia Blue, Kennesaw State; Ashleen Bracey, Illinois-Chicago; Jen Brown, Queens; Dan Burt, Duquesne; Jeff Cammon, Saint Mary’s; Fred Chmiel, Bowling Green; Janell Crayton, Bethune-Cookman; Denise Dillon, Villanova; Carrie Eighmey, South Dakota; Dalila Eshe, Yale; Heather Ezell, Wyoming; Bill Fennelly, Iowa State; Aqua Franklin, Lamar; Ty Grace, Howard; Hana Haden, Georgia Southern; Corry Irvin, Chicago State; Renee Jimenez, UC-Santa Barbara; Chris Kielsmeier, Cleveland State; Mike Lane, NJIT; Amy Mallon, Drexel; Kristen Mattio, Northern Colorado; Mike McGuire, Radford; Kim McNeill, East Carolina; Dan Nielson, Utah Valley; Shawn Poppie, Clemson; Terry Primm, Siena; Samantha Quigley Smith, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville; Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt; Jonathan Tsipis, Western Carolina; Coquese Washington, Rutgers; Trevor Woodruff, Bucknell.
Helpful Info
*The highest and lowest ranking each team has held during the designated season. Any team that starts the season unranked and/or falls out of the top 25 during the season will reflect a “NR” (not ranked) designation as its lowest rank.
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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Texas Women’s Basketball ranked No. 3 in preseason Coaches Poll
