Rori Harmon's Rise Leads Texas into March Madness

Texas' star freshman point guard is playing her best basketball as the Longhorns open NCAA Tournament play against Fairfield

The Big 12’s coaches picked a Texas player as their preseason Freshman of the Year in October.

Turns out they picked the wrong one.

The freshman in question was forward Aaliyah Moore, and the other coaches has plenty of reason to choose Moore. She was as highly credentialed as her fellow freshman, Rori Harmon. But there seemed to be more opportunity for Moore to get playing time with the departure of forward Charli Collier to the WNBA.

Rori Harmon

Rori Harmon

Rori Harmon and Vic Schaefer

Harmon seemed to be walking into a glut of talent at guard that included Aliyah Matharu, Joanne Allen-Taylor and Audrey Warren.

Harmon, instead, rose above them all and as the Texas Longhorns enter the NCAA Tournament on Friday when they host Fairfield at 7 p.m. at the Erwin Center.

To be fair to Moore, she missed a month of the season due to an injury and appears to be rounding into shape herself. She posted a season-high 12 points against Baylor on Sunday.

But now, as Harmon goes, so does Texas. And her head coach, Vic Schaefer, will use any motivation or slight he can to get the most out of his newly-minted honorable mention all-America selection. Schaefer things Harmon should have been First-Team All-Big 12 and he’ll tell anyone that asks.

“I think she is a humble kid,” Schaefer said after the Longhorns beat Iowa State in the Big 12 semifinals last week. “She appreciates what she’s got. But, again, I think she is one of the ten best players in the conference. I'm going to tell you this: She needs to be considered for any kind of award for freshman because she's that dang good.”

Schaefer, of course, realizes that his point guard was well-decorated last week she was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, along with being named to the All-Big 12 Second Team (theoretically one of the 10 best players in the conference), along with the all-freshman team and the all-defensive team. Schaefer said that going up against Harmon on the defensive end must be like “going to the dentist.”

Harmon isn’t making noise about it. She certainly didn’t after posting her another big game against Baylor in the Big 12 title game and earning most outstanding player honors.

“I was really just playing for my teammates,” Harmon said. “I wasn't worried about awards, I just wanted to help get the championship win and we did.”

Harmon’s growth as a player this season has been steady, the kind of growth that many coaches hope for out of a true freshman. She was a starter from the season opener but focused more on setting up her teammates than taking her own shot. As the season went on, she became more comfortable with scoring and that became fully apparent in Kansas City last week.

She had 30 points in the semifinal win over ISU, and in overtime she hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first minute that set the tone of the rest of the period. Texas never trailed after that.

“But that's an overtime game,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “Usually it takes one or two shots that swings it. Unfortunately for us tonight they hit the shots.”

Audrey Warren

Aliyah Matharu

DeYona Gaston

Then in the championship game against Baylor, she played all 40 minutes, scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists and had a steal in the Longhorns’ 67-58 win over Baylor. It’s the sort of balanced game Harmon has been producing, especially in the last month, as her season averages have gone up to 11.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

Harmon’s emergence puts Texas in a position where it can duplicate last year’s run to the Elite and maybe, just maybe, get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2003.

Harmon is willing to do whatever is necessary, even take a charge from the Big 12 Player of the Year, Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith, as she did on Sunday.

“I will sacrifice my body for my teammates, that's what Texas is about,” Harmon said.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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