Hailey Van Lith in the Portal

[Fairfield Fan]

I’m super shocked! She’s also listed as “do not contact”. Wonder where she’s headed?

Shocking given that she appeared on the Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi show during the championship game and they all praised Jeff Walz to high heaven. Not a contrary word was said by any of the three.

 

[CONNCAN]

In my opinion, NO DOUBT, Hailey Van Lith is headed off to play for Kim Mulkey and LSU (Oregon is a "Sinking Ship" with everyone bailing out of the program, so I can't see her going there).

 

[HuskyNan]

In my opinion, NO DOUBT, Hailey Van Lith is headed off to play for Kim Mulkey and LSU (Oregon is a "Sinking Ship" with everyone bailing out of the program, so I can't see her going there).

Dunno. Lauren Betts is now following the Oregon coach and program

 

[PacoSwede]

as i recall, in high school Hailey Van Lith was hoping to be a uconn husky ... paige dashed that possibility, of course.

is she now getting a second shot?

no, no, no. uconn MUST get another 'big' and hailey assuredly ain't one!

 

[bballnut90]

Apparently she's "do not contact" which indicates she knows where she's going. Guessing we'll find out sooner than later.

 

[Zarathustra]

Probably end up on the west coast, maybe a Wash U or WSU where they'll let her take all the shots she wants.

She's a NorthWest girl! Quite the competitor. Does anyone else recall the Paige Buecker's
inbound pass to Hailey in the USA vs Canada game in Thailand. ?? Great stuff, Great team!

 

[PacoSwede]

Shocking given that she appeared on the Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi show during the championship game and they all praised Jeff Walz to high heaven. Not a contrary word was said by any of the three.

there is no reason to assume that she has any problem with walz.

there are many, many reasons to desire a transfer and we don't know hers -- or those of anyone else in the portal ... unless they tell us ... and it is really no one's business, after all.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Wow. This portal thing is spinning out of control. I feel for the coaches. They invest their time and energy (not to mention schools’ money) to go and watch the players, compete with other coaches to recruit them, train them and hope to build teams/programs with them for years, and wake up one morning and find out their hope/dream that they have worked so hard for is gone. The NIL deal is making the matter worse. The NCAA needs to do something about this.

My experiences with recruiting are with college soccer so not certain it’s similar. During the recruitment process the head and assistant coaches were my kid’s best friend and as soon as they committed it was as if the coach didn’t know they existed. Off they were on the season and the next set of recruits. Not to suggest this exists with UCONN and Geno but I’ll bet it’s more prevalent than we think and the kids need to understand they won’t get spoon fed once they show up day 1 and they’ll get a different treatment than that of the recruitment process.

 

[NC28604]

Wait, she has 2 counting the Covid year.

 

[Bills Fan]

Actually, this might just be an academic decision, much like Dorka's. Hailey Van Lith graduated from U of L in 3 years and realizes that there are much more prominent schools to get a Grad degree from than a second degree from a school with a marginal academic reputation.. What top level academic and basketball school could use a top 20 rated Guard? Indiana / Stanford both come to mind, but certainly NOT LSU

 

[meyers7]

Actually, this might just be an academic decision, much like Dorka's. Hailey Van Lith graduated from U of L in 3 years and realizes that there are much more prominent schools to get a Grad degree from than a second degree from a school with a marginal academic reputation.. What top level academic and basketball school could use a top 20 rated Guard? Indiana / Stanford both come to mind, but certainly NOT LSU

I was just going to speculate, having finished 3 years, she may have enough credits to graduate. And now would be a good time to find a new challenge. Somewhere close to home? Or maybe building a superteam?

 

[SECbbfan24]

 

[FormerCTrez]

I’m starting to think that I should not go to bed for the next several days, or so. Why? Because every time I wake up and check the Boneyard, it’s some world-class shattering news like this.

 

[MilfordHusky]

When she was in high school, Hailey Van Lith was recruited very heavily by Baylor. I believe that Kim and the entire staff flew up to visit her, but Hailey Van Lith wasn't convinced. She waited a long time to verbal. It seemed as if she wasn't sold on Baylor and was waiting for someone else. Did she not like Kim, or was it Waco? She may give Kim another look. Or not.

 

[Jim]

Wow. This portal thing is spinning out of control. I feel for the coaches. They invest their time and energy (not to mention schools’ money) to go and watch the players, compete with other coaches to recruit them, train them and hope to build teams/programs with them for years, and wake up one morning and find out their hope/dream that they have worked so hard for is gone. The NIL deal is making the matter worse. The NCAA needs to do something about this.

I disagree. Coaches can’t stop investing their time and energy after the recruit signs the LOI, but need to follow through on their promises and keep their program where the recruit wants to remain. Sometimes that means being selective on who is allowed in, at the possible expense of not going after top talent. Fit can be more important than rankings. Moreover, 17 and 18 year olds grow and their priorities change. Statistics show that nearly 70% of college graduates have changed their major at least once.

 

[Carnac]

I’m super shocked! She’s also listed as “do not contact”. Wonder where she’s headed?

Now THIS is a shock!! She was their best player and the face of the team. Who's next? You know this is only the tip of the iceberg. How many more "high profile" players are going to announce they're entering the portal?

 

[ballhawk]

Last week it was reported that Jayda Curry, the star guard from Cal is transferring to Louisville. As a freshman she was the leading scorer in the PAC12 at 18 points/game. This year she averaged 15.5 points/game. A few years ago Kiana Smith, a McDonald's AA, transferred to Louisville from Cal and became their starting guard. There seems to be a Cal to Louisville pipeline.

 

[Carnac]

Mulkey is making a push for Hailey Van Lith

No crap!?!

 

[ucbart]

I believe Hailey Van Lith is signed with ADIDAS.

Washington is an Adidas school now, she's from that state, and Tina Langley is starting to get some momentum.

 

[EdSaid]

Actually, this might just be an academic decision, much like Dorka's. Hailey Van Lith graduated from U of L in 3 years and realizes that there are much more prominent schools to get a Grad degree from than a second degree from a school with a marginal academic reputation.. What top level academic and basketball school could use a top 20 rated Guard? Indiana / Stanford both come to mind, but certainly NOT LSU

I've always been an education first person, but this is becoming the age of the NIL deal.

 

[bovwa10]

Wow. I wasn’t that surprised by Betts but I’m shocked by this one.

 

[freekimchee]

She'd be perfect for Mulkey's team but I think she goes home to Udub or Wazzu.

 

[Bills Fan]

The NCAA is totally responsible for the fire drill that occurs every year at this time. Very little of this would be happening if they had not changed from the prior eligibility rules re transfers to the immediate eligibility we now have. Couple that cave-in with NIL and it has now become a buy-a-player joke nudging WCBB closer and closer to pro leagues

This is pure and simple a defensive move by the NCAA to retain the big schools, primarily related to P5 football, but spilling over to all revenue sports. The UCONN WCBB program is a true outlier with its history and coaching. If not for those 2 factors we would not be in the running for any top 20-30 level players. Remember Liyah's interview quote, "I mean it's UCONN" Do any of us really think she would have made the same statement while substituting Creighton/Nova/St. John's or any other Big East school or even middle level P5 schools such as TCU or Wake Forest ?

Is there a solution to this transfer portal situation? I think so. On a going forward basis, revert to the one-year-sit-out rule with two exceptions. 1) Do not employ it retroactively to any current players or incoming players who have signed a LOI; and 2) Establish hard and fast exception rules, e.g. HC departing or abuse of some verifiable nature.

 

[Bigboote]

Washington is an Adidas school now, she's from that state, and Tina Langley is starting to get some momentum.

UW has an excellent business school. As do Stanford, Cal, and UCLA on the West Coast.

 

[Hayven]