Sarah Graves learning sports business, too

For awhile now, basketball has been part of Sarah Graves’ life.

Convinced to check out for the game within the eighth grade by her observe coach, Graves developed into an all-district guard and district champion at Keller High. She walked onto the Texas women’s basketball workforce in 2022 and was placed on scholarship a year later. Now a senior, she trails solely fifth-year level guard Rori Harmon as essentially the most tenured Longhorn on the roster.

On observe to graduate this upcoming spring with a basic finance diploma from the McCombs School of Business, Graves nonetheless sees a future in basketball. That future, although, could not embody shorts and footwear. 

In addition to her duties with the basketball workforce, Graves is serving on the inaugural advisory board for the Business of Sports Institute at Texas. Last month, she helped placed on UT’s Business of Sports Summit. Could Graves tie her enterprise background with the game of basketball? Maybe.

“Everyone always told me to be a coach. Even my coaches here or my coaches in high school were like, you’re so passionate about basketball, you have to be a coach,” Graves mentioned. “So my idea was, ‘OK, if I love sports, I have to either be a coach or a professional player.’ That was really the only outlet for me. This has really opened my eyes to a lot of things, and I think a lot of people don’t know all the different possibilities.”

The UT Business of Sports Institute was based in 2021 and is run by Texas professor and creator Kirk Goldsberry. According to its web site, the BOSI says it’s “redefining sports education and research — uniting students, faculty, and industry leaders to tackle the biggest challenges in sports through data, leadership, and innovation.”

“Sports is big business, and at Texas, we want to be at the forefront of it,” Graves defined.

MORE: 2025 NCAA Tournament kept Texas guard Sarah Graves and her family very busy

Graves related with Goldsberry whereas doing information analytics work when  she was a freshman, and she or he mentioned becoming a member of the BOSI was “a perfect fit” after attending her first Business of Sports Summit. Now a member of the institute’s board, Graves assists with the Business of Sports Summit, leads the outreach and communication efforts and lately gave a presentation about serving to student-athletes. As one of many few UT college students on the institute’s 29-member board, Graves has served alongside some heavy hitters like NBA star Kevin Durant and basketball corridor of famer Chris Bosh.

“It’s really cool how down to earth they are. Whenever you’re talking to those guys, you don’t feel like you’re talking to a celebrity. You feel like you’re talking to a friend,” Graves mentioned. “I think a lot of students I hear nowadays talk about imposter syndrome or feeling that they don’t deserve to be in the room. I think you just kind of come in there with a little bit of confidence and feel like you deserve to be there and you’ve worked hard to put yourself in those positions.”

Through the UT Business of Sports Institute, Graves was in a position to make the mandatory connections to land a summer season internship on the RedBird funding agency in New York (Like Graves, RedBird president Rob Klein is a BOSI board member). Graves was solely in New York for a month this summer season, however she famous that “part of my responsibility I feel is to represent how hard it is for student-athletes to get jobs and get internships when our season seems to never end.”

Graves has been saved busy. In addition to her BOSI work, the season tipped off this week. A longtime reserve whose position has centered extra on what she will be able to present in practices and off the court docket, Graves performed six minutes in Monday’s season-opening blowout of Incarnate Word. For the primary time in her profession, Graves appeared in the first half of a Texas game during the 123-51 win.

Ahead of the opener, Graves was among the many seven returnees who had been introduced a hoop that celebrated final season’s accomplishments and UT’s first Final Four look since 2003. After the sport, sophomore guard Jordan Lee described the rings as “sensational” whereas junior ahead Madison Booker mentioned they had been “spectacular.”

MORE: Madison Booker preps for a bigger leadership role for Longhorns

This season, Texas is aiming for a nationwide championship ring. The Longhorns have not gained a kind of in 40 years.

“We’re always competing for a national championship, but I feel a little bit competitive with myself in the terms of I want to beat what I’ve done last year,” Graves mentioned. “It was cool because we went to the Elite Eight and the Final Four. Everyone’s trying to make a push to see how they can challenge themselves to get past that and hopefully compete for a national championship at the end of the year.”

Up subsequent for Texas is a Richmond workforce that was tied with Kentucky for the No. 24 slot within the Associated Press’ preseason ballot. On Tuesday, Richmond opened with an 83-49 win over Mount St. Mary’s.

“It’s really early for us to be playing somebody in the top 25 and to be playing somebody like a Richmond who plays way different than a lot of people,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer mentioned this week. “(They’re) very talented, well-coached. Big kids are really agile and athletic and can stretch you and shoot it from range, and guards are outstanding. (Senior forward Maggie) Doogan is a monster, and so we’re going to have to play really well.”