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Louisville Cardinals guard Hailey Van Lith Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Star Louisville guard makes shocking decision to enter transfer portal

By Eric Smithling | Last updated 4/9/23

Point guard Hailey Van Lith is transferring from Louisville, the program she led on deep NCAA Tournament runs the past two seasons, ESPN reports.

Breaking: Star guard Hailey Van Lith is in the transfer portal out of Louisville as a graduate transfer, the school announced. pic.twitter.com/H3q7jEYeRM
— ESPN (@espn) April 8, 2023

The Cardinals reached the Elite Eight this year, where they lost to national runner-up Iowa. In 2021, Louisville reached the Final Four, losing to that year's champion, South Carolina.

Reports suggest Van Lith already knows where she's headed—or, at the very least where she's considering transferring to—with sports journalist Mitchell Northam reporting "she marked herself in the portal as 'do not contact.'"

I can confirm this. Source also says that Hailey Van Lith has marked herself in the portal as “do not contact” (players typically do this when they have a good idea of where they are transferring to). #ncaaW https://t.co/gHxe8HGWE5
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) April 8, 2023

One more thing on the “do not contact” thing — it’s also something players can use to help them control the transfer process better. This way, instead of every program calling HVL, she can contact the few she’s interested in.
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) April 8, 2023

She averaged a career-best 19.7 points per game while shooting 41.1 percent from the field this past season and was even more productive in the NCAA Tournament. In four games, she averaged 23.8 points on 45.8 percent shooting.

Van Lith is arguably the biggest name in the transfer portal, which also has the No. 1 recruit out of high school in 2022, former Stanford center Lauren Betts.

Angel Reese and a cavalry of transfers for LSU proved how much the portal can swing the national title race and Van Lith qualifies as a player who could shape next year's tournament.

The defending national champion Tigers could be a strong fit for Van Lith, with NCAA Tournament stand-out guard Alexis Morris headed to the WNBA. Five-star guard Mikaylah Williams is a part of the school's promising 2023 recruiting class, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to add the former Louisville guard.

Van Lith has a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with adidas, which on the surface would appear to present a conflict with LSU's partnership with Nike. But the Tigers' Flau'jae Johnson showed this past year that isn't a deal breaker after inking a contract with Puma.

Another point in LSU's favor is its head coach, Kim Mulkey. Back in 2019 on her college signing day, Van Lith was split between Louisville and Baylor, Mulkey's former school that she had just led to a national title.

It's anyone's guess where she'll end up. It's possible she teams up with Caitlin Clark at Iowa or Paige Bueckers at Connecticut. Perhaps she returns to her home state of Washington to play for a Washington State program that just won its first Pac-12 Tournament.

Anything's possible, especially for whichever school Van Lith picks.

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