When Haley Van Lith made the decision to leave Louisville and hit the transfer portal, Kim Mulkey knew she had to bring the No. 1 transfer in the nation to Baton Rouge. The point guard from Wenatchee, WA averaged nearly 20 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game last year and with the departure of Alexis Morris this offseason, LSU was in need of a point guard.
Fast forward a few months and Haley Van Lith announced she was committing to LSU alongside the No. 2 player in the transfer portal, Annesah Morrow. Van Lith said it took her a while to make her decisions on whether or not to transfer, but once she decided to hit the portal, she knew LSU was the place to be.
"I think tansferring for me was a very thought out but last minute decisions. It wasn't until at least probably two weeks after LSU even won the national championship that I decided it would be best for me to enter the transfer portal. I had the idea pop in my head, but emotionally I was very tied to my teammates at Louisville. Just individually, the best thing for me and my personal wellbeing, my happiness, my basketball development was to transfer...I actually said several times throughout the season, even before I knew I was transferring, was 'man, I want to play on that team.' Just the energy the coaches coach with, the energy Coach Mulkey brings to the court, the energy the assistants bring to the court, the energy the girls play with, just the culture of the team drew me in. Getting the opportunity to play with one of the best point guards in ever in Coach Mulkey and learn from her is something that's really valuable to me."
Haley Van Lith
When Van Lith decided to transfer to LSU and play for Kim Mulkey, it sent shockwaves through the college women's basketball world. The Tigers had just won their first national championship in program history and had the number one recruiting class in the country. Now they get the number one player out of the transfer portal? How are they going to manage all of those egos?
That's the question everyone has been asking since Van Lith arrived on campus, but she's not worried about the so called 'big egos' on this team. She said there's always going to be opinions, both positive and negative, about this team, but it's up to them whether they take them to heart.
"Whatever that means, I don't know what that means. Big personalities. I feel like a lot of people are giving opinions whether they're good or bad about our team and then they're expecting us to take them into account. I think it's up to us whether we even take it into account. There's opinions saying we're going to be the best team ever and there's opinions saying big personalities, so I think there's always going to be an opinion, there's going to be extremes that are for us and against us."
Haley Van Lith
Kim Mulkey originally recruited Van Lith coming out of high school when she was at Baylor. Despite Mulkey's track record as a point guard and a head coach, Van Lith didn't think the system at Baylor fit her game.
She said after she committed to Louisville, her and Mulkey didn't keep in touch, but the second she hit the portal, Mulkey was talking to her everyday trying to recruit her to play in Baton Rouge.
"It was so hard for me to tell Coach Mulkey no. She knew it wasn't anything with her. Our connection stayed fresh. We didn't talk while I was at Louisville, but the minute I got in the portal, we talked everyday...I think the system here is a bit more open. The bigs here are versatile, they can play the perimeter and come off the block. So the system this team has and their flow and style of play fits me a little bit better."
Haley Van Lith
There's no doubt that Van Lith brings so much to this LSU team. She was one of the best players in the nation last year and averaged the 24th most points per game of anyone in the country.
She was always the first option on offense at Louisville, which is why she never averaged more than 3.2 assists per game in her three years as a Cardinal. Now that she has a plethora of other stars around her, she feels she can become a well rounded point guard and do whatever it takes for LSU to be successful.
"Me personally, I'm very confident in what I bring to a team and what I can do on the court. The amount of shots I'm going to get, the amount of minutes I'm going to play is not super important to me. It's more of, I know when I'm on the court, I can control what I can control. I think the amount of minutes I play and the amount of times I get to shoot, that all is going to be determined by the attitude I take. Ultimately, I just want to make great plays. A lot of people didn't realize that at Louisville because a lot of the time, the right play was for me to shoot. But here a lot of the time the right play is for me to kick it when I draw two people. I'm just looking to make the right play, where that's a shot, whether that's a pass, whether that's standing in the corner and letting Angel go 1-on-1, I'm willing to do all of it."
Haley Van Lith
Van Lith has only been practicing with this team for a week, but she already recognizes the level of talent around this team. She said that by having the level of talent this team has, it allows them to be able to prepare for anybody. They go against the best of the best every single day and when they practice, they don't mess around with each other, they go at each other hard everyday to make sure they're ready for the season.
"I think for us and the level of talent we have, there's going to be a lot of times where our practices are going to be much harder than the competition we're playing in games. That's all you can ask for. That's going to prepare us. We're not always going to be looking at the opponent across from us, we're going to be looking at us and how to make us better, and I think that mentality is going to make a difference in the locker room."
Haley Van Lith
On paper, this may be the greatest women's basketball team ever assembled. The returned a lot of players from last years national championship and brought in the No. 1 recruiting and transfer portal class during the offseason.
LSU will likely be the favorite in every game they play this year, and rightfully so. They have all the talent a coach can ask for, and the only ones that will be able to beat them are themselves.
