Madison Booker, welcome to the Courtside Club.
Madison Booker, shot is on.
I think just going into this season, I just didn't want to be a scorer, you know, on my team.
I wanted to do more things, like I want to be the best player, like, all around.
Oh, blocked by Madison Booker.
Madison Booker taking over.
When did you realize that you wanted to play at the next level?
When I was younger, I didn't even know you could play in college.
So you were just playing for the love of the game.
I was playing just to have fun.
I don't need to worry about the next shot because I got Madison Booker with this shot.
Is there anything that you learned from your first NCAA tournament that you're going to carry on into this one?
Every possession matters.
Even the ones that you don't score on, you have to get high at the right time
because that can really take you over the hump.
Madison Booker, welcome to the Courtside Club.
Thank you for having me.
So, first tournament game.
It's a couple days away.
End of the season.
We just had Selection Sunday.
You guys are number one seed.
How are you feeling about everything?
I mean, I feel good.
I'm happy this is my second time being in one seed.
It's my second tournament.
I'm just ready, you know, to play ball.
Trying to kind of make it farther than we did last year.
We went to Elite Eight.
Lost to NC State.
But I feel like this seems a little different from last year's team.
But we know that we have to get high.
Got to get a little lucky in this tournament.
And we have to, you know, kind of basically play perfect.
That's kind of like the name of the game, who can play the most perfect.
But, yeah, I mean, we're ready.
My team is ready.
Is there anything that you learned from your first NCAA tournament
that you're going to carry on into this one?
Yeah, I just think that every possession matters.
Like, even ones that you think don't matter.
Even the ones that you don't score on is, like,
how you play in that position matters.
I just think your flow of the game, like, it matters.
Just also, like I said, getting high.
Like, you have to get high, like, at the right time.
Because that can really, you know, take you over the hump.
I just think last year we kind of had a lot of mistakes
in, like, our league game against NC State.
And I think this year we have been in that position
where we made, like, kind of a lot of mistakes
but also been able to get over that hump in a game
and kind of, like, win the game.
So I feel like we've been through a lot of, like,
different situations in games against great teams.
So I just think that's also going to kind of help us at first
for them in times where it gets hard during the tournament.
Yeah, you guys definitely didn't have,
like, an easy schedule.
And I know defense is something that you guys focus on as well.
So, you know, the tournament's different.
You don't necessarily know who you're going to play next.
So it might be a little bit harder to prepare certain defenses.
But what is your team's mindset defensively
going into these next games?
It's team basketball.
It's team defense.
I think one person can't guard one person on offense.
I mean, in reality, like, the player with the ball
should be better than the person, like, that's playing defense.
Like, because you control it.
But we just have to play team defense,
kind of be, kind of have each other's back.
I think that's the name of the game.
Like, kind of during conference,
we've been kind of missing, like, with, like,
the upside rotation, stuff like that.
And I just think we weren't playing team defense.
But I think when we come together and actually, you know,
play together, talk, communicate, like, help the helper.
I think our team is different on defense.
We're also trying to stay the offense for us
and kind of get us going in the game.
Yeah, all those little things.
Like, you talk about.
So, the selection committee,
I feel like they were feeling spicy this year,
as they always are.
And it might be that you and South Carolina
meet up in the Final Four, seeing if you guys get there.
Do you have your eyes set on that?
I actually do have my eyes set on that.
I actually didn't even know we were on the side of South Carolina.
Honestly, I thought it was on the other side.
Madison, you're on that side.
I thought they were on the three other side.
I kind of got happy a little bit.
But, yeah, I mean, I saw that now.
And I guess, you know, they want that matchup again.
But we have to get out of our bracket, too.
Our bracket is tough.
We got some very tough teams here.
We could end up playing Notre Dame again.
That's a rematch that, you know, we lost in that first setting.
But, I mean, just not even thinking that far ahead.
We got to know who we're playing for.
We got to get past the first round.
Because, honestly, anybody can be beat.
Everybody's good enough to play basketball here.
So, I just think that we have to respect all our opponents,
but also fear none of our opponents, too.
So, let's take it back to that SEC championship game.
Obviously, not the outcome that you guys wanted.
But going into the locker room, what was coaches messaging?
What was your guys' messaging as a team?
And was that motivation for you guys to bounce back and get it together?
I would say before the game.
One of his messages was he can write all this stuff on the board about, you know, his game plan.
But if we don't go and we were focused, then that's not – like, it don't mean anything.
I just think that, you know, we kind of went into that game, kind of wasn't focused.
It was like we weren't focused.
We were playing, you know, not with an edge like usually we do, especially on defense.
I feel like, you know, we were kind of a little hesitant.
Not our best – our best performance.
But I just think after the game is basically like you can hang your heads
because we have a whole other tournament.
We have many more practices to go through.
I just think his message kind of stuck out was we just got to learn from this.
We have to learn from this.
And the first time we played South Carolina and we lost at their place kind of about 20,
We had to win the streak going on.
So, I just think that it's, you know, we just got to bounce back again.
Let's see if we can win six games in a row.
You bounced back.
You ended their 57-game-long winning streak.
You had a great game, double-double, 20 points, 11 rebounds.
But let's just talk about those big games in general.
You do step up in those games.
And whether that means you have to score on the court,
whether that means you have to get your teammates involved, hit the boards,
whatever you need to do, how do you get up for those big games?
I mean, I feel like big-time players, if you're going to be a big-time player,
you got to make big time.
And sometimes scoring's not always on your side.
But, you know, you got to find a different way to help your team out,
especially if your team is dependent on you.
And I think just going into this season, I just didn't want to be a scorer,
you know, on my team.
I wanted to do more things.
Like, I want to be the best player, like, all around.
So, I just think, you know, just having that mentality of got to get boards,
got to crash boards, got to, you know, like assist my teammates,
got to get them open, got to set good screens.
Just, like, little things like that, you know, just, like, little details,
I think can really, like, impact the team.
You do have such a versatile game.
And maybe that goes to last year, you stepping up
and going into that point guard role.
I feel like they can put you one through four.
You got to do it all.
You got to play both ends.
And I feel like some of the times your impact on the court
might not even show up on the stat sheet.
Because you're also not, like, a player that's getting in everyone's face.
Like, you keep it kind of cool, calm, and collected and do your thing.
But you make such a big impact.
And you're getting recognized for that now, SEC Player of the Year.
Congratulations on that.
But has there been anything in the transition to this year
of your playing career that you've worked on to elevate your game?
I think this year, going into this season, like, I don't know.
Like, even before the season kind of started,
I had a feeling like this season was not going to go the way I expected it to go.
You know, coming off a great freshman career.
Not career, but great season.
Big 12 Player of the Year.
I like All-American.
Just kind of going into it, I just felt like it wasn't going to be
kind of, like, that easy.
You know what I'm saying?
Which, it shouldn't be easy.
Because, you know, like, you want the challenge.
Like, you want to take on the challenge.
I got called out already to be, like, SEC Player of the Year for preseason.
And even Coach talked about it.
Leaning from the front is very hard.
Like, that's already a target on your back.
So, you know, I just felt like I need – it was more of a mental game.
So, I think that was the transition for me was, mentally,
how was I going to be able to sustain this?
Because I just had a feeling it was going to go the way.
It was some games where it was, like, wow.
Just literally just building a house out here.
Building, like, my own little house out here.
Well, I feel like the mental side, too, though, also comes from experience.
And it's, like, you can't rush experience.
You just got to take it as it comes, right?
You cannot run from the heart.
I just think this year I had to actually embrace it
and tell myself, you know, it's either bounce back
or you're just going to win.
And I think, you know, I want to be there for my teammates.
I mean, they're, like, there for me from the get-go.
So, I just think that's just me, like, just, like, paying back to them
is, you know, doing, like, the other things.
Like, that's what that comes from, too,
just doing other things except for scoring.
So, I mean, it's more mental this year than ever.
Well, you've done a great job bouncing back from maybe those rougher games
and really making a name for yourself.
You're also one of the finalists for the Naismith Player of the Year Award,
which is incredible.
But I want to read to you this list because there's some ballers on here.
You have Georgia Amor, you have Lauren Betts, you have Paige Beckers,
you have Hannah Hidalgo, you have Taniya Latson, Olivia Miles,
Anissa Morrow, Haley Van Lith, Juju Watkins.
So, are there any players who stand out to you on this list?
And if you could win this award and have a co-winner with you,
who are you having up there with you?
If I could win this award and I had a player, a co-player,
Yeah, I'm going to talk about Betsy.
Hannah Hidalgo, for sure.
Point guard in every game.
I think she's a dog.
I think this year she's really, you know, carried her team.
Also, I'm not going to lie to Taniya.
Not a dog, but a dog.
Also, two Quartzite Club members, too.
I love that you chose two that have been on the show.
Those two, I think, you know, if I had to watch like a one-on-one matchup,
man, I could watch.
I could watch for hours.
Like, that's, yeah.
Like, those two, I think they've been carrying their team.
They've made a big impact on their team.
And Taniya, she's been good, but she continues to step it up every season.
It's like from her freshman year, sophomore, she stepped it up.
Junior year, she's up there.
But, yeah, I mean, that's a hard list, man.
And I don't know who's going to get it.
It's up for whoever to choose.
But, hey, good luck with that one.
You guys have all been killing it.
And it's just been so fun this year watching the women's college game.
Because there's like so many, like you said, dogs in the game.
So, here on Quartzite Club, we like to take a halftime break.
And I have a little game for you if you're down.
So, I want to hear your starting fives.
So, firstly, let's start with your starting five NBA players of all time.
So, for my point guard, I'm going with Rajon Rondon.
I think his IQ is out of his world.
Him being point guard, man, take a team places.
For my two, right now, my two, I'm up for a debate with Ray Allen or Stephen Curry.
I want to shoot her.
I want to shoot her in my two.
So, you just put the top two in there.
One of them can sub in off the bench.
I'm going to go back to that until I get to my four team.
So, I would say my three, I have to give it to Ron.
I think my four will be Kevin Durant.
I mean, that speaks volume.
It just speaks volume.
I think my five will be Shaq.
I need a dominant post player.
A little old school.
So, we're circling back.
Are we taking steps?
Are we taking Ray Allen?
I got LeBron, a playmaker.
KD can play with anybody, I think.
He's got Shaq down there.
Michael, I'm just stepping Curry.
Since, you know, USA was literally him, LeBron, and KD.
Like, I just think that's going to be.
They have the chemistry already.
He put in a great point guard.
That is unstoppable.
200 points a game.
200 points a game, 82-0 season.
So, what about your starting five WNBA players of all time?
I'm like, somebody might try to call me crazy for this one.
For my one, I'm picking Chelsea Gray.
No, actually, I lied.
I'm going to pick.
What's her first name?
You know what I'm talking about, right?
She was on Chicago Sky.
Went to the New York.
Courtney Van Sluiden.
Just dimes, dimes.
For my two, I want to go with Clea Coppin.
For my three, I'm going Maia Moore.
Four, Candice Parker, CP3 right there.
I feel like I would be crazy not picking Lisa Leslie.
That's a very, that's a very solid list.
It's tough, too, because I feel like two through four, there's so many.
Because you've got to pick either one of them.
I'm sorry, Candice Parker.
You've got to pave the way for a lot of those big guards here.
I've got to, you know, pay my respect.
And lastly, maybe you can throw some of the ones you didn't put on the WNBA list.
Let's talk about just female college basketball players.
Just think about their college careers.
This is actually going to be a little difficult right here.
For my point guard.
And you know what?
If it's too hard, you can go positionless for this one.
So, when I was watching college ball when I was looking for college.
For my four, I would pick Gabby Williams from Ukraine.
For my three, I'm going to go with Mississippi kid, Victoria Vivians,
Coach Schaefer, Coach Steer, great three-point shooter.
For my two, it's Aja Durr, right?
Actually, this is hard.
That's her name, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
For my lefty, that's hard.
It's Libby Hurst or Rike.
I'll put Aja one and put Aja two.
Just because of that game winner.
So, Aja one, Aja two, Victoria Vivians three, Gabby Williams four.
For my five, I think Aja Wilson.
It's pretty solid.
Championship team.
Yeah, I think that team is going places for sure.
So, speaking of, you know, we've talked about college.
We've talked about the WNBA.
You have WNBA dreams?
Are we going to see you there in a couple years?
That's the plan right there.
When did you realize that you wanted to play at the next level and you wanted to play at the highest level?
I remember when I was younger, I didn't even know you could play in college.
So, you were just playing for the love of the game.
I was playing just to have fun.
I was just playing out there.
I was literally having fun.
I think maybe like eighth, ninth grade, I realized that I got to go to college with this.
Get a college offer for free and play ball on TV.
I think that was the fun part about it, playing basketball on TV in front of a lot of people.
And then, I feel like also around like eighth, ninth grade, I realized when I got my first offer, I could go big with this.
I can go like all the way to the pros.
I think you're on the right track.
So, what was it about Texas that really stood out to you?
So, being from Mississippi, I was a Mississippi State fan.
I watched Coach Schaefer coach there.
I wanted to go to Mississippi State.
So, when he left, I was still like a State fan and stuff like that.
But I've just kind of been following his career, Coach Schaefer's career.
I mean, he's a great coach.
He's won a lot of games.
I think he won some very big games at Mississippi State.
He really turned that program around to like a Final Four program.
Almost won a championship twice, I'm pretty sure.
But also, he's been around for a minute.
He knows he's had a player like me before.
And also, I think I just wanted to learn defense.
I wanted to be able to add that to my resume, too.
I'm not there yet.
I will never say I'm there.
So, it's actually hard.
Just, you know, learning that kind of end of court from him.
And just, you know, kind of learning just little things that he's seen
like over the past 40 years in coaching.
I think that's a blessing.
He's a great coach.
I mean, why not want to learn from somebody who's been to people's places before.
And it seems like it's paying off because we have seen your game develop
even in just two seasons.
So, it seems like you're taking in all the knowledge,
thinking about ways you can get better.
So, when you're not playing basketball, I heard that you like to build Legos.
That's my little thing right now.
So, what's the most recent set?
So, I've been working on this.
It's been for a minute.
Right now, it's kind of hard because I have cats now.
Are we the same person?
And I have three cats.
We have two kittens.
They're about cats right now.
They're getting bigger.
They're about eight, nine, nine months.
Oh, but they're, but they're wild at that age.
So they're pretty, pretty poor.
We love chilling, watching TV or watch me play video games.
Oh, that's sweet.
but yeah um my recent one right now just it's like this slow batman kind of like
painting portrait like i don't know okay yeah yeah i've seen i've seen like the mona lisa one
you know what i mean where like we haven't done that one yet but i so it's similar to that so yes
but it's like okay this long it just has like the city like overview of like gotham it's pretty
cool it's been taking me a minute because so many little pieces yeah and that's the thing
with cats too because like the harry potter ones have all these like little pieces and if i leave
it out like i come home my cats have broken it and they're just like batting it around
yeah so actually one of like i had a small piece to do it was like a little batman mask
came back home my batman mask on the ground
that's cats for you i just knew who did it i knew who did it did you adopt them from
i did indeed okay okay so i saw that on your instagram i thought that was so cool i've
volunteered at shelters for years i've also volunteered with apa one of my cats is also
from there the other two i found on the side of the road but that's for another day but
but my cat's guy is from there too so i just also wanted to like say thank you for promoting
adoption i think that's incredible um and also like for taking home two little babies that's
amazing see my whole thing was i was never
a cat person actually i was always a dog person i like i have a little winter dog at home
okay 18 years young right now still living oh wow yes um but yo so when i got my um
my first kitten um my mom was like what the world we are not cat people and i was like
you're cute and ever since then my mom loves them she got them some little sweaters for
for christmas so cute she's been great you know
it happens they're so easy to fall in love with and i love that i love them i love them
send us some photos so we can put it in the episode but i know yeah so we'll definitely
put that in there um i know that you're super busy i don't want to keep you much longer but
before i let you go i have some buzzer beaters for you okay cool okay so who is one person that
you would love to see courtside at one of your games jay cole easy he's a hooper too he's a hooper
and i love his music we'll get him there we'll get him there so who is one person dead or alive
that you would love to sit courtside with oh with oh my gosh wow okay i would definitely say kobe
for sure but like i could just talk game with him but like we'll be the same labeling just
just kind of like you know like out there reading talking about the game
for sure he loved the women's game too yes oh yeah i loved it yeah i would love talking just
just like pick his brain a little bit i'm here okay so last but not least what is one event in
history that you would have loved to have been courtside for it could be a sporting event or
other but you just got that courtside view okay so i'm gonna so i'm back to miss b state fan
i don't know if you remember this but it was a a big part of women's basketball history
when miss uv state beat uconn it was to go to the final four morgan williams
five six point guard a mid-range shot over gabby williams who was like six oh shoot okay
all net game is over mr state's going to the final four the year before that yes the year before that
when that was championship game
they're old to go to championship game
oh to go to i'm wrong so in the final 40 yeah yeah yes mind you the year before that literally
a year before that you couldn't be miss b state by like 60 points that's like come back of the
century i think that's the biggest that's a i remember that like it was
they broke the winning streak too 111 they broke their winning streak 111 oh that's crazy
that's sick i also love that you just still ride so hard for part of that he was
i love that and now you've been able to witness that and then take it to where you're at where
you're at now so yeah yeah that story's pretty cool yes i love that i got perfect watching that
as a kid oh my gosh i was so i was so hyped wow that's awesome and i know that shot was going in
that well madison i know that you're super busy you guys are getting ready for the tournament good
luck the rest of the way we will definitely be tapped in and if i can get to one of those games
whether it's this year next i'm gonna be there because we're we're neighbors at this point if
you need someone to cat sit let me know if you want to come meet my cats let me know i got legos
here so we got all the things we're good to go but yes thank you so much thank you so much appreciate