Another transfer puts Lady Longhorns roster in crisis

One week after a Final Four appearance, one of the high points in the program's history, the Lady Longhorns are dealing with a roster crisis. Three key players, including a super recruit, have entered the transfer portal and two key players are out of eligibility.

Three of Texas women's basketball’s top four scorers from this season have entered the transfer portal: Jordan Lee (13.2 PPG) Justice Carlton (8.5 PPG) Aaliyah Crump (7.9 PPG). The program will also lose Kyla Oldacre (10.5 PPG) and Rori Harmon (8.4 PPG, 6.3 APG) due to exhausted eligibility.

The latest to declare was Jordan Lee on Wednesday. She was sure to get more playing time with the departure of Crump the day before, but it didn't matter.

Aaliyah Crump hitting the transfer portal has to be a disappointment for head coach Vic Schaefer. Crump was the most highly sought after recruits 2025 recruiting class and the Longhorns won a fiece recruiting war to get her to the Forty Acres.

Carlton was a Final Four starter. The 6-foot-2 sophomore had a breakout year, starting 28 of 35 games and contributed 8.5 points a game and 4.0 rebounds a game. She ranked fourth on the team in both categories.

Texas is set to lose 63.1% of its scoring, 55.9% of its rebounding, 67.6% of its assists and 67.8% of its minutes from this past season.

Schaefer was asked at the Final Four press conference about Iowa State's roster crises, where the Cyclones coach Bill Fennelly saw eight (so far) of his players enter the transfer portal. He says the job, with the transfer portal and NIL money, has drastically changed.

"It's just not the same," Schaefer said. "It's just not the same job it was five years ago. It's certainly not what it was ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. It's just way different."

But the Lady Longhorns coach says you better adapt to the new college sports landscape or die.

"You know Coach Sark (Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian) and I talked about it," Schaefer said. "We've been talking about it for a couple years now. ... There was a thing called the dinosaur a while ago. What happened to them? They couldn't figure it out and what happened? They became extinct. We better figure it out or we're gonna become extinct."

Texas has the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation. UT will still have star forward Madison Booker. UT will be a force next season. Final Four level force? We'll see.

This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Texas women's basketball roster in crisis after three players transfer