A premier guard is officially in the women’s basketball transfer portal. Former Louisville and LSU ballhandler Hailey Van Lith is on the move for a second time after averaging 11.6 points per game with the Tigers this year. Her next destination could be worth watching at legal online sportsbooks.
Van Lith has played 134 games across four years with the Cardinals and Tigers. The senior has accumulated a player efficiency rating of 19.5 and piled up 19.5 win shares across her four-year NCAA career, so a cavalcade of teams will be knocking on her door for the 2024-25 WBB season.
So U.S. Betting Report broke down the odds on where Van Lith could go next. We list a quartet of (now former) Pac-12 schools in the mix, along with the new national champions and a few wild cards. These odds were developed exclusively for USBR; you won’t find them at mobile sports betting apps.
Hailey Van Lith Transfer Portal Destinations
Van Lith Has Had Decorated Career
The native of Wenatchee, Washington, was named a McDonald’s All-American and Washington Ms. Basketball in 2020. That netted Van Lith a five-star rating out of high school.
She more than lived up to the hype, scoring 1,936 points across her first four college campaigns in Louisville and Baton Rouge. The guard was a two-time first team All-ACC selection with Louisville in 2022 and 2023. After this past season at LSDU, she has a final run in her thanks to the NCAA’s blanket “COVID” waiver for players that had eligibility during the 2019-20 or 2020-21 seasons. As part of our US betting sites coverage, here’s our breakdown of the destinations that we deem most likely.
Where Will Hailey Van Lith Go Next?
Right now, our No. 1 contender to land Van Lith out of the portal is Stanford. The tradition-rich program has to replace legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer in 2024. VanDerveer announced her retirement on Tuesday, with former Stanford star player Kate Paye taking over as coach of the three-time nation champions this fall.
Despite losing their Hall of Fame head coach, the Cardinal are our top pick to land the superstar guard, at +350 odds, or a 22.2% implied probability. Lindsay Gottlieb’s Southern California Trojans are No. 2 at +400 odds (a 20% chance). Both of those universities are headed out of the crumbling Pac-12; Stanford is bound for the ACC and USC is heading to the Big Ten.
The national champion South Carolina Gamecocks are third at +700 odds to land Van Lith. They just capped an undefeated season with their third NCAA title and BetMGM Sportsbook lists South Carolina as preseason odds favorites to repeat in the 2024-25 season, with +150 odds.
We list Oregon State (+800) and Washington State (+1250) as contenders for her to return to her native Pacific Northwest. Big Ten stalwart Ohio State is at +1250 along with WSU. And we won’t rule out Van Lith returning to her original college team, the Louisville Cardinals (+1750).
There’s also an outside shot (+600) that Van Lith goes off the board with another team or decides to withdraw her name from the portal and come back to Baton Rouge to close out her NCAA run with Kim Mulkey at LSU. If Van Lith remains, LSU’s +2000 national championship odds with DraftKings Sportsbook might move.
For now, what we know is that one of the most talented backcourt players in the women’s game is officially on the market as Van Lith chooses a home for her fifth and final NCAA season.
USA Today photo by Matthew Hinton
