Hailey Van Lith may very soon announce her commitment to TCU. However, she has yet to sign.
Nothing is official!
The 22-year-old women’s college basketball star is “very close” to making a decision on where to play her final season of eligibility but is yet to come to a resolution. This comes in contradiction to multiple reports from highly-respected members of the media last week.
It was announced that Hailey Van Lith committed to the Horned Frogs.
Apparently, that is not entirely true. She walked back her supposed commitment during an interview with Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press over the weekend.
I did take a visit to TCU and am very interested in them, but I took visits to other schools and was very interested in them, too. I haven’t made an official commitment, but I’m very close. The ink has not touched the paper for any school.”
— Hailey Van Lith, via AP
Here’s the thing. Van Lith is currently working to earn a spot on the United States’ 3X3 team for the Paris Olympics. That is the priority right now. Her presence will not be requested at her next school until late summer. There is not a huge rush to this transfer portal process.
Van Lith might want to announce her decision on her own terms when she is ready. The comments made to the Associated Press could be a smokescreen. TCU may have already received a verbal commitment behind the scenes, which leaked to the media. We don’t know.
To say “I haven’t made an official commitment” certainly throws a wrench in things. However, to specifically say that “ink has not touched the paper” might indicate a grey area that will allow Van Lith to take back her own commitment. We don’t know!
Either way, Haley Cavinder’s decision to leave TCU and return to Miami did not and will not impact Van Lith’s next move. She has mostly been off of the grid since LSU’s loss to Iowa in the Final Four and was not even aware of the move until Saturday afternoon— more than three days after it was announced.
It’s a non-factor for me. If she had stayed and I did go to TCU, I’d have loved to play with her.
— Hailey Van Lith
All of this goes to say that, even though it seems unlikely, it is still possible that Van Lith could end up somewhere other than Fort Worth. Cavinder’s decision did not lead her in one direction or another.
Should she not end up playing for the Horned Frogs next year, there will be a lot of questions!