Like many Texas freshmen, Madison Booker is about to introduce a burnt shade of orange to her color palette.

Her favorite color, though, is purple. It has been for a while.

"My mom always got me purple stuff," she explained.

Booker also really, really, really likes gold. After all, that color is synonymous with winning.

Booker, a 6-foot-1 forward who's one of the newest members of the UT women's basketball team, already has won gold medals with the U19 squad in Spain this month. A few months ago, the Mississippi product led Germantown High to its first state title. At Texas, she wants to end a championship drought that's 19 years older than she is and bring home UT's first NCAA title since 1986.

"I just love winning. I love winning championships, gold medals," Booker said earlier this month. "My first gold medal, when I got it, I just wanted another one because it felt good. This past year winning a state championship, now I'm in college and I want me a natty. It's just the drive that you get from winning one. You want another one, then you want another one, then you want another one. It's just a drive I have from winning in the past."

Booker's next hunt for gold is taking place in Madrid at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which began Saturday. Led by Texas A&M coach Joni Taylor, a talented U.S. team opened pool play with an 85-66 win over Mali and a 100-46 blowout of Germany. The Americans will face Chinese Taipei on Tuesday.

Promises fulfilled

Booker is one of five players on the roster who were listed among the top 20 players in ESPN HoopGurlz's rankings for the 2023 recruiting class. Forward Joyce Edwards and guard Allie Ziebell are Nos. 1 and 4 overall in the class of 2024. Londynn Jones, Kiki Rice and Grace VanSlooten all were members of the Pac-12's all-freshman team last season, Ohio State's Cotie McMahon was named the Big Ten's freshman of the year, and Talana Lepolo started 31 games for a Stanford team that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

When asked what she wants to get out of this experience with Team USA, Booker said she was looking forward to learning new things. She also hopes to bond with her teammates, some of whom will soon become adversaries on the collegiate level.

Is that it?

"My third gold medal," she said.

While playing with Team USA at the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup in Hungary, Booker averaged 5.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists over seven starts. She contributed 6.2 points and 6.7 points per game at the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Mexico. Team USA went 13-0 over those two tournaments.

This time, Booker made four of the five shots she attempted against Mali. She finished with 10 points and four rebounds over the 14 minutes she played in that 19-point win.

"She's a great team basketball player," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "I think that's probably one of the reasons why USA Basketball likes her so much, because she does play that way. She's not a person that needs to take 10, 12 shots a game."

Booker left the win over Mali with an undisclosed injury and did not play a day later against Germany. She is not expected to be sidelined for the rest of the competition.

Where Booker will fit in at Texas

When Booker gets done in Madrid, she'll focus on college. She moved to Austin on May 27, and time at the lake, group workouts and marching in the Central Texas Juneteenth Parade have given her opportunities to hang out with other members of the Texas team. Piqued by an interest in engineering and mathematics that she's had since her mother enrolled her in a STEM camp as a fifth grader, Booker plans to study mechanical engineering.

On the court, Schaefer believes Booker will be an instant contributor for a team that won a share of the Big 12 championship last season but was upended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Ranked 12th by ESPN HoopGurlz, Booker is the highest-rated member of UT's 2023 class. As a senior, she was named a McDonald's All-American and the Gatorade player of the year for Mississippi.

Schaefer has likened her to Victoria Vivians, the All-American guard he coached at Mississippi State. Since she was raised in Mississippi and attended many Bulldogs games growing up, Booker is familiar with Vivians' work and has met the five-year WNBA veteran once.

Booker, however, would like to compare her game to two other players. She wants to pass like former NBA point guard Rajon Rondo. Her midrange game is modeled after Kevin Durant's.

Why Rondo?

"Rajon Rondo, I've been a big fan," Booker explained. "When I tell people that, they're very shocked. Rondo's IQ was off the charts. He was a great point guard for the Celtics, and that always just caught my eye. The fast passes he made, I loved it, and I always wanted to be like him."

And why Durant?

"My dad always taught me before you need to shoot a 3, you've got to shoot a midrange," Booker said. "I always try to make sure I have a great midrange. Kevin Durant has a great midrange too, so I put two and two together."

Growing up, Booker liked to wear No. 35 because of Durant. Texas has announced that will be the number she'll don for the Longhorns. Fellow freshman Abbie Boutilier has been assigned No. 50. Gisella Maul, who joined the team last year as a midseason enrollee, will remain No. 21.

Maul enrolled at Texas early so she could rehab a knee injury, but she was recently completely cleared to return to the court. Her duties this season will include being UT's primary backup for Rori Harmon at point guard.

Boutilier (6-9) is the tallest Longhorn in school history. Schaefer said she still needs some seasoning and is learning how to run and work at the frantic pace that Texas uses. But once that happens? Schaefer predicted that she will become "everybody's best friend because she's going to be a rim protector."

"This class has got a chance to be really good," Schaefer said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas freshman Madison Booker plays summer basketball with Team USA