Tag: Hailey Van Lith

LSU women’s basketball hosting All-American transfer visitor

The Tigers are now in the mix for two of the top transfers in the country.

The LSU women’s basketball team captured the first national championship in program history this season, but coach [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] isn’t resting on her laurels.

The Tigers lost a couple of key pieces after the season, namely [autotag]Alexis Morris[/autotag] and [autotag]LaDazhia Williams[/autotag], but they bring back stars [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] and [autotag]Flau’Jae Johnson[/autotag], and they’ve been aggressive on the transfer portal market.

LSU has been a major player in the recruitment of Louisville guard [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag], and it will host another elite transfer on campus this weekend in DePaul forward [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag]. The news was first reported by On3’s Matthew Brune.

Morrow averaged 25.7 points and 12.2 rebounds for the Blue Demons this season, earning Third Team All-American honors for her efforts. The 6-foot-1 Chicago native has two remaining years of eligibility and ranks as either the No. 1 or No. 2 player in the portal, depending on the rankings.

If LSU could land either Van Lith or Morrow (let alone both) it would almost certainly enter the 2023-24 season as the clear favorite to repeat as champions.

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Who is still in the transfer portal that might make sense for the Iowa Hawkeyes?

Fresh off a trip to the national title game, Iowa wants to retool. Here’s several transfer portal targets the Hawkeyes should consider.

What an offseason this has been for women’s college basketball.

After one of the greatest tournaments in history, the race is on for these teams to reach even bigger heights in 2023-24. A number of top players hit the portal this offseason, looking more like the football version of the transfer portal.

From established stars Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow to talented youngsters waiting for a breakout such as Lauren Betts, there’s something for everyone in the portal!

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, they haven’t brought in anyone yet even though some of the portal’s top players have made their way to greener pastures.

Just like one of the worst snubs in American Idol history Chris Daughtry said in his hit song “It’s Not Over,” it is definitely not over yet for the Hawkeyes. There are many talented players still looking for a new home to ply their trade. Plenty of potential Hawkeyes out there!

As we get ready to leave the month of April, here is an updated look at the crazy women’s college basketball transfer portal.

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Could star Louisville transfer Hailey Van Lith end up at LSU?

There’s speculation that Kim Mulkey could add one of the sport’s best players in the transfer portal.

One of the best guards in women’s college basketball is in the transfer portal: Louisville’s [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag].

Upon her appearance in the portal, LSU Twitter immediately began wondering if Van Lith could be on her way to Baton Rouge. While there aren’t any official reports tying Van Lith to LSU, some circumstances make the move look sensible.

For starters, LSU lost [autotag]Alexis Morris[/autotag], its top backcourt player and floor general. A strong backcourt is needed for success in the NCAA Tournament, and the addition of Van Lith would erase concerns created by the loss of Morris.

Van Lith and LSU head coach [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] are no strangers, either. Mulkey got to know Van Lith during the original recruitment phase.

According to reports, Van Lith is listed as a non-contact inside the portal, which means she might already have her destination in mind. It might also mean she’s not ready to kick her recruitment into high gear.

At this point, a lot of this remains speculation.

Van Lith averaged 19.7 points at Louisville last year and played nearly 37 minutes per night. Along with that, she totaled 3.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game.

LSU is already in a good spot entering next year but the addition of Van Lith would cement the Tigers as the title favorites.

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Louisville’s Hailey Van Lith enters portal, is clear on where she wants to go

Van Lith has reportedly marked herself as a ‘do not contact’ transfer. In other words, she knows where she wants to play.

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:

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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Final 2022-23 ACC women’s basketball leaders

Here’s the best the ACC had to offer in the major statistical categories this season.

With Virginia Tech’s loss in the Final Four, the 2022-23 ACC season is complete. It was quite the successful season for the conference as it boasted many of the best teams and players in the country. Notre Dame made it to the Sweet 16. Miami and Louisville got as far as the Elite Eight. And let’s not discount Duke, Florida State or North Carolina, all of whom made the NCAA Tournament. Whichever program you chose to follow, chances are you wouldn’t be disappointed the quality of basketball.

Now that we’ve paid tribute to the best teams, let’s look at the players who were the best in the major statistical categories during the season. Not every player on the list represented a top conference team, but their presence alone made even the most abysmal conference games worth watching. Next year’s conference players will have a lot to live up to following in the footsteps of these ladies. Heck, some of them could be back on this list at the end of next season:

Hailey Van Lith and the 13 other best women’s basketball players in the NCAA transfer portal

Some star players will choose new teams for next season.

When the NCAA released its brackets for its men’s and women’s basketball tournament fields, the transfer portal opened, marking the start of the sport’s unofficial free agency.

Last season, more than 1,100 women’s basketball players passed through the transfer portal. And if you look at the NCAA tournament field, you can see how some players benefited from a change of scenery and helped take their new teams to the next level.

Angel Reese went from Maryland to LSU, became an AP All-American First Team selection and powered the Tigers to the national championship. The Cavinder twins landed at Miami, boosting their profiles for NIL while also helping the Canes reach their first-ever Elite Eight. And Taylor Soule transferred in-conference – going from Boston College to Virginia Tech – and helped the Hokies win their first-ever ACC tournament title.

The transfer portal has seen more traffic in recent years because of the NCAA’s COVID-era ruling that made it so the 2020-21 season didn’t count toward players’ eligibility. So, anyone who played that season gets a fifth season of college ball if they want it.

Here are the best players in the transfer portal so far. We’ll update this list when noteworthy players enter it.

The following players have already found new teams after entering the transfer portal: Kennedy Todd-Williams (UNC to Ole Miss), Maria Gakdeng (Boston College to UNC), Destinee Wells (Belmont to Tennessee), Jayda Curry (Cal to Louisville), Jessica Timmons (N.C. State to Alabama), Maliyah Johnson (Pitt to Houston), Jakia Brown-Turner (N.C. State to Maryland), Paris Clark (Arizona to Virginia), KK Deans (Florida to Ole Miss), Jada Walker (Kentucky to Baylor), Sedona Prince (Oregon to TCU).

Lip readers guessed what Texas’ Sonya Morris told Louisville’s Hailey Van Lith in tense exchange

What an uncomfortable handshake line moment.

Monday night was a mostly elementary affair for Louisville women’s basketball.

Led by 21 points from All-American honorable mention Hailey Van Lith, the No. 4 seeded Cardinals dispatched the Texas Longhorns 73-51 with ease. Now in the Sweet 16, Louisville is just two victories away from a second consecutive Final Four appearance.

However, before Van Lith and Co. could start preparing for the next round, the point guard first contended with an uncomfortable moment in the postgame handshake line. As Van Lith came up to Texas’ Sonya Morris, the Longhorns’ guard appeared to be very unhappy and said something to that effect.

Van Lith would listen and nod for a moment before shrugging Morris off to the side:

Phew. The handshake line is supposed to be an ultimate moment of sportsmanship — where both teams offer each other respect regardless of what happened between the lines. But whatever occurred during the game seemed to irk Morris enough that she had to confront Van Lith right away.

For what it’s worth, Van Lith took the (somewhat) diplomatic high road after the game:

Lip-reading college basketball fans had lots of guesses as to what Morris told Van Lith in this uncomfortable exchange. (Warning: NSFW guesses/responses below.)

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Also, be sure to check out other March Madness goodness from us:

Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles is finalist for Wooden Award

There was one piece of good news for the point guard Saturday.

While Notre Dame waits on [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag]’ availability for the NCAA Tournament, some good news for the injured point guard has dropped. Miles has been named one of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award, which is given to the best player in the country.

A Miles win would be the first for a Notre Dame player since the women’s category for the award was established in 2004. She also is a finalist for the Lieberman Award, which is award to the country’s best point guard.

Miles is one of four ACC players to make the final list. The others are ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech, conference leading scorer Ta’Niya Latson of Florida State and Louisville’s Hailey Van Lith. Also making the cut is defending winner Aliyah Boston of South Carolina, who is trying to become the seventh repeat winner of the award.

Miles is up against some stiff competition for the award, but the fact that she’s even gotten this far is awesome to see.

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Notre Dame blown out by Louisville in ACC Tournament semifinals

Not much to say about this one. OK, a lot, actually, and not in a good way.

With [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] unavailable for the ACC Tournament, it seemed like only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped for Notre Dame. Drop it did against Louisville in the semifinals, and it was not pretty.

After both teams struggled for much of the first quarter, the Cardinals started to pull away and never looked back. Faced with a stifling opposing defense, the Irish set a tournament record for offensive futility by a top seed in a 64-38 loss.

The Irish (25-5) defeated the Cardinals (23-10) twice during the regular season, including the finale to clinch the outright ACC regular-season title, and neither win came easily. So it seemed only natural for the third time to be the charm for the Cardinals, who previously had won six straight in the series. Their defense was unforgiving to the point where the Irish finished with more turnovers (22) than field goals (16). In fact, they didn’t allow the Irish to reach double figures in scoring for the first three quarters.

Hailey Van Lith scored 13 of her game-high 15 points for the Cardinals in the second half and had three steals. Olivia Cochran had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and also grabbed eight rebounds. Chrislyn Carr scored all 10 of her points in the second half, and Mykasa Robinson totaled 10 points and eight boards.

[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] was the Irish’s leading scorer but had only nine points, which was a perfect indication of how the afternoon went. The only other game in recent program history that featured such dominance by the opponent was when these same Cardinals jumped out to a 54-15 halftime lead last year at Purcell Pavilion. A loss to this team even with Miles on the floor might have seemed possible, but the Cardinals took complete advantage of her absence. The Irish lacked direction without their floor general, and it showed.

So now, the Irish have over a week to see if Miles can play in the NCAA Tournament. If her availability remains questionable by the time the selection committee releases its bracket, that could hurt their seeding to the point where they won’t get to host the first two rounds. There are a lot of questions surrounding this team right now, and it couldn’t be happening at a worse time. It really shows how sports all are about timing.

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ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 26

One Notre Dame player, hopefully a healthy one, is on the list.

The ACC Tournament takes place this week, so all eyes will be on Greensboro, North Carolina. Whatever the standing of your team, this is the perfect opportunity to see the best of what the conference has had to offer this season. Here are the players you particularly will want to see: