There are eight new players on the roster for Texas women's basketball, and five of those new faces are the "fearless" freshman, per their head coach.
Amalia Holguin, Brihanna Crittendon, Addison Bjorn, Lizzy Spaight and Isi Etute all signed to a Longhorns' 2026 class ranked the third-best in the country. With a lot of impressive freshmen and transfers, is playing time for the new recruits going to be a problem with the first official game of the season a few weeks away?
No, head coach Vic Schaefer said.
"They're gonna play," Schaefer said Monday at a morning news conference.
The quintet each made the top 50 of ESPN recruits for the class. They have been impressing Schaefer in practice, but he said he can see "heads spinning in practice." He paints a picture that resembles less of a coach at this point in the season and more like a plumber.
"They're like, 'Oh my God, I think I got that fixed ... and he's got another leak over here.'"
But the wrench turning comes with a reality check.
Before Texas opens the season against Fairleign Dickinson, two of its three exhibition games are against teams that finished within the top five of the rankings last year: UCLA and UConn. The Longhorns lost to the Bruins in a disappointing Final Four game. Texas also is scheduled to play Ohio State, Louisville, TCU, Duke and the Bruins (again) before SEC play opens up New Year's Eve; all of these teams are finished within the top 25 last season.
"You're one of the best players in the country, and you can control the game in high school ... by the way, the other team's gonna have several (of those players) too," Schaefer said.
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Crittendon is all-time leading scorer in the history of Colorado high school basketball. Fellow freshman Etute shot 52% from the field her senior year and they both will battle with 6-foot-4 senior Breya Cunningham.
Spaight is learning the point guard position. It may be difficult to replace the experience of former Texas star Rori Harmon, the Longhorns' career assists and steals leader, but there are options to go with Madison Booker and Bryanna Preston as she improves her ball security. On the other end, Etute and Crittendon bring a rebounding presence that could be imperative to Texas' transition offense.
"I think that's typical of any freshman that handles the ball ...," Schaefer said.
Texas' first exhibition game is Monday against UConn. There can be a lot of intimidation going up against a storied program that has won 12 national titles. But as the Longhorns continue to practice this week, Schaefer said he isn't worried about his "fearless" freshmen.
"They are all confident and sometimes what you don't know won't hurt you," Schaefer said. "I'm not gonna be worried about them babies going up there (to Connecticut) and being intimidated."
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This article originally published at Vic Schaefer's 'fearless' freshmen show confidence, growth before exhibition game vs UConn.