The big news in women’s basketball just keeps coming at a rapid-fire pace. Within the past 24 hours, we have seen Stanford center Lauren Betts, a former No. 1 recruit, enter the transfer portal. Now we have news that will similarly change the balance of power in the sport.
Hailey Van Lith, the fearless anchor of Louisville’s defense under head coach Jeff Walz, helped the Cardinals reach the Elite Eight this past season. Van Lith has decided to enter the transfer portal, which not only hurts Louisville but will give one team an elite defensive guard who will dramatically improve a roster.
Van Lith seems to have her future school in mind; she just hasn’t announced that destination just yet (as of Saturday morning). How can we know this? One detail of her transfer portal status has emerged. This will not be an open competition among numerous schools. Van Lith will go to the program she has already picked out:
Hailey Van Lith is in the portal. And she is reportedly a "do not contact" because she knows where she is going. The next time a head coach complains about transfers, remind them that we know they're tampering and making pre-portal promises while also claiming they hate all this.
— Myron Medcalf (@MedcalfByESPN) April 8, 2023
The team which gets Van Lith — similar to the team which gets Lauren Betts — takes a big step forward in contending for the Final Four and national championship next season. That is not an embellishment, at least if one presumes that Van Lith will go to a major national contender and not a lower-tier school.
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