Madison Booker finding herself, new level with Team USA

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A couple of months ago, Madison Booker turned 20 years old. Now in July, the basketball phenom just claimed her fourth gold medal with USA Basketball.

The 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup went the way of Team USA, which claimed the gold when they beat Brazil in the tournament final July 6. Booker tallied seven points and five rebounds in the championship game.

“Just holding [the gold medal], it’s all the hard work,” said Booker. “It’s all the people that believe in me. It’s all the people that kept pushing me.”

Booker has also won gold with Team USA in the 2023 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup, 2022 FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup and 2021 FIBA Women’s U16 Americas Championship.

The USA roster boasted some of the best players in the country, like Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson and Audi Crooks of Iowa State.

“It’s 12 great players on the team,” said Booker. “They’re all stars. They’re scorers for their team. You have to know that everyone can’t be a scorer on one team. It’s different roles.”

Booker was a first-team All-American for the Longhorns and led Texas with over 16 points per game last season. With Team USA, she was sixth on the team with 7.1 points per contest.

Having to find her way and not be the consistent top option on offense made the All-American look at things differently.

“Just kind of finding myself. That’s what I appreciate,” she said. “This time with USA, I kind of found myself lacking that. I was uncomfortable in situations, and I bounced back from being uncomfortable. I would say thank you, USA, for teaching me this maturity.”

Booker was uncomfortable at first when she found out her role on the team. She decided to rely on what Texas head coach Vic Schaefer always preaches.

“I found what my thing was on the team was that I’m going to play defense,” she said. “I’m going to try to get tips. I’m going to try to get stops on that end.”

When Booker got back to Austin, it was a quick turnaround. She got two days off before returning to training with the Longhorns.

“I loved playing for USA, but this team is new,” she said. “Already building chemistry early, right away is going to be good. Just because this is a whole brand new team. Also, I miss Texas. I miss the workouts.”

Booker and the Longhorns will look to build off a run to the Final Four a season ago as they head into the 2025-2026 season.