Hailey Van Lith chose to forgo the WNBA Draft and return to college basketball. She will exhaust her fifth and final year of eligibility with her third team in three years, the TCU Horned Frogs.
The decision to leave Baton Rouge stemmed from a difficult year in a new position that did not best set her up for success.
Although a large part of Van Lith’s transfer had to do with on-court logistics, it sounds like the people and the culture also played a big role. Those two things, more or less, go hand-in-hand.
Van Lith went from averaging 19.7 points per game as a junior at Louisville to just 11.6 as a senior at LSU. Kim Mulkey used the 5-foot-7 guard as a traditional 1. The experiment was largely unsuccessful and the failure was the primary catalyst for her decision to leave.
It wasn’t a great fit.
And to make matters worse, Van Lith was often involved with on-court drama. A hot mic caught Angel Reese scream at her to shoot during a loss to South Carolina. She was visibly baffled by Mulkey’s play call at the end of a loss to Mississippi State. Mulkey directly called her out for caring too much about perception.
Van Lith looked back on the past year and weighed all of her options. She ultimately decided that a fresh start in a new system would be best.
Hailey Van Lith transferred to TCU!
The 22-year-old is grateful for the community in Forth Worth.
At the same time, Hailey Van Lith might be even more excited to be out of Baton Rouge.
She threw some major shade at LSU during her first interview at TCU. Whether it was intentional or not, the Bayou Bengals caught a vicious stray.
Van Lith said that she wanted a year of college where she “loves where she is” and “who she is around.” More importantly, she wanted to go somewhere that makes her feel good about herself while there.
“I really wanted a year of college where i loved where i was at and I loved who I was around…TCU was the perfect fit.”
— Nick Girimonte (@GirimonteNicky) July 12, 2024
Hailey Van Lith talks her choice to become a Horned Frog. pic.twitter.com/xJCE8N3PHH
The comments leave a lot of room for interpretation. However, they imply that Van Lith did not love where she was or who she was around last year. If not directly, than indirectly. Read between the lines.
If all goes according to plan during the 2024/25 season, the Horned Frogs will be in great position to go on a run during March Madness. That is the expectation with the addition of Van Lith.
On an individual level, Hailey Van Lith hopes to use what she learned from Mulkey at LSU and return to form as the primary scorer. Should that happen, a top-10 pick in next year’s WNBA Draft is likely!