Ex-Louisville star Hailey Van Lith commits to defending champion LSU - ESPN

Former Louisville standout Hailey Van Lith has committed to LSU, a seismic move in women's college basketball that pairs one of the sport's biggest stars with the defending national champions.

The 5-foot-7 guard announced her decision by posting a photo of her in an LSU uniform Thursday with the caption «eleven,» seemingly referencing her new jersey number. Van Lith will have two years of eligibility remaining and transfers to LSU as a graduate transfer after completing her degree at Louisville.

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After arriving in Baton Rouge following a storied two-decade run at Baylor, now-four-time national champion coach Kim Mulkey crafted her roster by relying heavily on transfers, as six of the Tigers' top eight players this past season — most prominently Angel Reese out of Maryland — did not start their careers at LSU. After striking gold by bringing in Reese, Mulkey hopes she's doing the same with Van Lith.

Across her three seasons at Louisville — two of which she was the team's leading scorer — Van Lith compiled averages of 15.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game on 42.2% shooting from the field (33.7% from 3). In a career year as a junior, Van Lith averaged 19.7 points and 3.2 assists per game, as well as 4.5 rebounds, making her one of two Power 5 players, along with Iowa's Caitlin Clark, who averaged at least 19 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game on the season.

As a sophomore, the two-time first-team All-ACC player propelled the Cardinals to the 2022 Final Four, where she was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Wichita Regional. This season, Louisville fell to Iowa in the Elite Eight last month, the program's fifth consecutive appearance in that round of the