Texas point guard Rori Harmon was officially cleared to play earlier this month after recovering from a torn ACL. She has already been practicing for about a month, but this was the last step she needed to feel her comeback was complete.
"It just feels nice to hear that your surgeon verbally and medically clears you. A lot of emotions," Harmon told CBS Sports. "It feels great. I'm just happy to be playing again."
Harmon's injury happened during a practice in December 2023, so it has been a while since she has played a competitive game. However, Texas coach Vic Schaefer has been hyping Harmon up and says she looks like herself again.
Although she believes in herself, Harmon admitted encouraging comments like that are important for her confidence.
"It definitely means a lot," Harmon said. "It's good stuff to hear every once in a while because eventually in this process when you are recovering and you know, just coming back, it can turn into a mental thing. I'm glad to hear he sees me that way, and I do feel good.
"I just have to continue constantly giving myself confidence and trust that everything that I've worked on over this summer and throughout my rehab was for a reason, and I'm here for a reason. I just need to keep going and keep trusting on the fact that we worked so hard to get to where I am now."
Harmon was very careful during her recovery process, so she spent weeks working on her form by shooting while sitting on a chair. She said the whole experience has made her grateful for every part of the game, including the not-so-fun parts of practice.
"It's just a good feeling to be able to be tired, to be sore," Harmon said. "I don't complain that much; I'm just grateful to be out on the court. We may have to run baselines every once in a while, but it's not that I have to, but it's now that I get to."
During her absence, freshman Madison Booker had to take over the point guard position. Booker was a wing in high school, but she adjusted well enough to lead the Longhorns to 33 wins and an Elite Eight appearance.
Harmon said it was a big role to unexpectedly get, especially for a freshman, but she shared some advice with Booker and was impressed with the results.
"I just told her that you have to be accountable, this is basically your team," Harmon said. "When you are on the court and you are the point guard, this is your team. You have to understand Coach wants the ball in certain people's hands at certain times, certain plays. There's just a lot of specifics and a lot of details that come with having that point guard role, especially for Coach Schaefer. But yeah, she did really good at it."
Having Harmon back is a huge boost for the Longhorns, and one of their biggest strengths will be their depth at the guard position. Throughout the offseason, Schaefer has lauded freshmen Bryanna Preston and Jordan Lee, as well as seniors Laila Phelia and Shay Holle.
"I feel like it hasn't been like that the past years that I've been here," Harmon said. "We have a lot more depth and we can rotate people in and out. It's just a lot more rotations that we have to figure out, chemistry also.
"In practice, you gotta learn to play with everybody and build chemistry with some of the other guards. I think Schaefer has even said we can possibly even get into a four-guard lineup at some point. That just says a lot about our guards and how versatile we can all be."
The Longhorns will be playing their first season in the SEC, and they will do so with high expectations. They were picked to finish second in what projects to be a deep conference. Texas is also starting the 2024-25 campaign as the No. 4 team in the AP Top 25 poll.
Harmon has an idea of what she wants the storyline to be for her team this season, but she is taking it one step at a time.
"What I would want it to be would be national champions. But let's start off at the beginning," Harmon said. "I think one of the things I would want is us being consistent throughout the whole season. Are we beating who we are supposed to beat? Are we that team that can win a few games then end up losing? How consistent can we be throughout the season with our games and with the way our schedule looks. I think that will make a difference down the line."