Hailey Van Lith to LSU

[GeauxTime]

LSU appears to me to be a toxic environment for players....results will not prove me right or wrong, but if you let players go off the wall on social medias, it makes the college they play for look bad.

What in the world? How does LSU appear to be a toxic environment for players? Who has gone off the off the walls on social media? They've all used social media pretty responsibly while having fun with it. They've used it to maximize their exposure and brand for NIL.

 

[Happydad745]

It depends on what type of player you are. Kim rarely recruits soft or thin-skinned players. She recruits confident players who are going to thrive in a tough and challenging environment. That right there is the main key to her success as a coach.

You completely misinterpreted what I said....

 

[bballtalk]

I think a lot of fans didn’t really watch LSU last year except for a few games and in the postseason. But if you were watching consistently you know that Van Lith really helps this team. I don’t understand the “its only one ball” comments and the chemistry comments. Every team has chemistry issues right now it’s literally April. Some dislike for Reese’s antics or Mulkey has put a negative connotation on LSU for some fans.

Firstly, if you watched LSU you would know that Morris is not a point guard. She played shooting guard in 2021 when Pointer was the point guard. She had to play point guard last year because LSU didn’t have anyone else. Also as good as Morris was in some games, she also had the tendency to disappear in other games.

Scoring was not always pretty for LSU this year. Yeah they went crazy in the title game, but a lot of the times it was a lot of standing around and Reese trying to do so much. This was not supposed to be the year for LSU. The team had no depth from the bench. A lot people thought LSU wasn’t that good this year. They were able to go on a run and got hot at the right time.

Now bringing in Van Lith, signing Williams and Rosario, second years from Johnson and Smith and Reese coming back. They have a team that can compete for a title. That’s not saying they are a lock to win the title but they have as good a team as anyone else. Mulkey has delivered at LSU, and she now puts them in championship contention every year.

There’s a lot of negatives being brought up, but LSU is doing even better than they thought they would. Mulkey had to build, and now they are here. Losing Morris and Williams are big loses for them. Van Lith will help.

 

[bballnut90]

Uhh we were talking rankings as a recruiter. I see you really belive in this LSU team and that is your perogative, but even though she double dawn up, she has not beaten her the last four times she has played Dawn, either with Baylor or LSU. Dawn is still formidable and still has a formidable roster.

Ah I think I misread your transfer statement. And I do think this LSU team will be excellent this upcoming season. Do you think otherwise? I know you aren’t going to root for LSU, but keep in mind this thread is about Hailey Van Lith going to LSU.

And I am a big Dawn fan and supporter. I was just on here last month defending why she deserved NCOY over Geno and have posted very favorably about her for quite some time. She’s quickly working herself up the all time ranks and is deservedly the “it” coach right now in women’s basketball. I just think Kim all time ranks higher due to her 4 titles and the consistency she’s shown for 20+ years now. In modern day I don’t think of Geno as being a better coach than Dawn/Kim, but looking at all time rankings, there’s no question I’d put him ahead of both based on all he’s accomplished. It’s the same comparing Kim and Dawn. By the Dawn hangs it up, I could see her surpassing Kim in my eyes. She has youth on her side, has built a great thing in Columbia, and is at the top of the game right now. I’m not sure why you mentioned Dawn being formidable and having a great roster—nobody thinks SC is falling into oblivion or suggested otherwise. They’re going to be a title contender once against next year.

 

[bballnut90]

The only reason why Kim has a better win percentage is because she always plays more cupcake teams every season than all of the top 3 winning coaches combined. If Kim played the same teams that Geno, Tara, and Pat played, she wouldn't have half the wins she currently has. I wonder if she is going to schedule any top 10 non conference teams this year?

They’ll have some decent competition in the Cayman Islands next year. Kim historically has always scheduled big non-conference games while at Baylor, I’m not sure what happened this year but hopefully she gets tougher competition next season.

 

[cancontent]

Eh, I disagree. Edwards is more polished as a scorer but Angel impacts the game in a much bigger way. She is a far better defensive presence and rebounder, plus she stays out of foul trouble, consistently gets opposing teams into foul trouble and doesn’t turn the ball over. Myself and most non-UCONN fans would take take Angel over Aaliyah, just like how most would take Paige over Hailey Van Lith.

I’ll give you Reese being a far better rebounder and interior defender but Edwards can defend almost every position on the court, Reese cannot defend well around the perimeter. You are also wrong about Reese staying out of foul trouble, she fouled out of 2 NCAA tournament games and she averaged 2.5 fouls per game last year, 3 fouls per game the year before and 2.5 the year before that. That's slightly higher that Aaliyahs career fouls per game. They also have similar turnover numbers, they both turn it over a lot for post players.

I have no doubt that most non-Uconn fans would take Angel over Aaliyah but I don't think that means she's the better basketball player. Aaliyah has more qualities I personally value in a basketball player and objectively can do more things at a high level than Reese can. We'll see how they both develop over the summer but if Aaliyah can add a three point shot to her resume I don't think Angel will still have the popular vote. I also think the gap is much smaller than Hailey Van Lith and Paige regardless. Closer to Paige vs Clark imo.

The foul trouble point doesn't make sense. Reese was foul prone while at Maryland in addition to this past season at LSU. Both players can get their defensive opponents in foul trouble as well. Personally it's a wash.

It's also hard to compare these two because they play different styles of basketball based on how their team's offence are set up. LSU ran a lot of their offence through Angel, which wasn't the case for Aaliyah at UConn. Reese wasn't expected to defend the perimeter as much as Aaliyah was. Plus Reese's outside game is still lacking. Let's see how it develops next season and do a comparison then.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Now watch, LSU will repeat as Champs. Thanks a lot.

The one thing we know is that they won't lose any out of conference games. Watch out Houston Christian and Mississippi Valley State!

 

[Bone Dog]

Excellent thread! I just finished reading through it all and really enjoyed it. This is the BY at its best. Here’s my thoughts on the main themes:

1. Kim is a great coach. Top 3 currently and probably to 5 all time. She builds winning teams out of tough players because she knows how to shape a team culture in the course of a single season. She said as much in the NC postgame court side interview, that she’s not afraid to recruit “personalities.”

2. LSU got lucky in their path to the NC, and they played well over their talent-level in the first half of the NC game. If they didn’t shoot nearly 100% from 3 the result could have been very different. This doesn’t diminish their achievement — nothing can take that away from them. But it suggests a repeat is not as likely as may appear.

3. Losing Ladazhia Williams is more significant than stats suggest. Angel doesn’t like being stuck in the low post and having a mobile active big next to her really matters. Del Rosario is not likely to be able to play that role for her in her first year.

4. Aaliyah is more comparable to Angel than I’d realized. Angel had a better season by most measures, of course, but Aaliyah plays on a team that doesn’t run its offense mainly through one player and also requires front court players to regularly defend the perimeter. A head to head matchup between them might be very interesting, rather like when Iowa plays UConn.

5. Morrow would help with the low post work a lot. Kim must want her. What isn’t clear is whether Morrow wants to help a program or lead one. Does she want to be Angel’s support staff or the main star? In my mind, this is the difference between LSU and USC as choices for her.

 

[ucbart]

Angel Reese cannot hit a left handed layup or shoot outside of 5 feet. Edwards is already a better all around player than Reese. Just looked out how Angel looked against South Carolina's front court versus Aaliyah if you want to compare the two. She also performed better against Tennessee. To say there is wide gap in Angels favor is just not reflective of reality.

Agree! Half of Reese's rebounds are from all of her own misses. Angel is a great player, but in no way is she as refined as Edwards. Please remember that Edwards did what she did last year with no Paige and Azzi sporadically. By February, she was tired, but before that, she was NPOY level good behind Clark.

 

[bovwa10]

Agree! Half of Reese's rebounds are from all of her own misses. Angel is a great player, but in no way is she as refined as Edwards. Please remember that Edwards did what she did last year with no Paige and Azzi sporadically. By February, she was tired, but before that, she was NPOY level good behind Clark.

Getting tired should not be an excuse. Clark usually plays nearly every minute of every game.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Excellent thread! I just finished reading through it all and really enjoyed it. This is the BY at its best. Here’s my thoughts on the main themes:

1. Kim is a great coach. Top 3 currently and probably to 5 all time. She builds winning teams out of tough players because she knows how to shape a team culture in the course of a single season. She said as much in the NC postgame court side interview, that she’s not afraid to recruit “personalities.”

2. LSU got lucky in their path to the NC, and they played well over their talent-level in the first half of the NC game. If they didn’t shoot nearly 100% from 3 the result could have been very different. This doesn’t diminish their achievement — nothing can take that away from them. But it suggests a repeat is not as likely as may appear.

3. Losing Ladazhia Williams is more significant than stats suggest. Angel doesn’t like being stuck in the low post and having a mobile active big next to her really matters. Del Rosario is not likely to be able to play that role for her in her first year.

4. Aaliyah is more comparable to Angel than I’d realized. Angel had a better season by most measures, of course, but Aaliyah plays on a team that doesn’t run its offense mainly through one player and also requires front court players to regularly defend the perimeter. A head to head matchup between them might be very interesting, rather like when Iowa plays UConn.

5. Morrow would help with the low post work a lot. Kim must want her. What isn’t clear is whether Morrow wants to help a program or lead one. Does she want to be Angel’s support staff or the main star? In my mind, this is the difference between LSU and USC as choices for her.

This part. UTAH was an airballed free throw away from keeping LSU out of the Final Four, and Virginia tech was up double digits until a fourt quarter mental collapse. LSU deserved to win the championship and are worthy National Champions but people are acting like they were South Carolina last year, the clear and away best team in the country.

 

[Heytherego]

Agree! Half of Reese's rebounds are from all of her own misses. Angel is a great player, but in no way is she as refined as Edwards. Please remember that Edwards did what she did last year with no Paige and Azzi sporadically. By February, she was tired, but before that, she was NPOY level good behind Clark.

Angel does what she does without a PB or Azzi level player out there…AE misses too and doesn’t grab nearly as many of her own rebounds as Angel does. Angel is really skilled player who played with much less talent around her than AE did even without Azzi PB. As a uconn fan I really respect Angel’s game, especially given that she hasn’t developed a jumper yet and still gets hers. Everyone gets tired, i don’t think that’s a good enough excuse, especially given Angel actually averaged about 1 minute more than AE. I have love for both players, but I don’t think it’s fair to try to take away what Angel has done or compare to AE

 

[Dwilliams02]

Van Lith is going to be their point guard? If not not whose running point?

Either Kim gonna commit to Van Lith being point. Or she's gonna have Poole running point. It all depends on Mikaylah impact as a freshman. If she doesn't start. Then Poole will run point.

 

[darrell]

Getting tired should not be an excuse. Clark usually plays nearly every minute of every game.

Comparing apples to oranges.

 

[MSGRET]

Getting tired should not be an excuse. Clark usually plays nearly every minute of every game.

Betcha if Clark was the 4 or 5 playing almost every minute of the games played she would be just as tired as AE was at the end. In blow outs Clark hardly played more the 20 - 30 minutes, depending how much the team was up by the end of the half or 3rd quarter. There is a big difference between playing 7 people most of the season and 10 to 12 people most of the season.

 

[ucbart]

Getting tired should not be an excuse. Clark usually plays nearly every minute of every game.

LOL! You think I was talking about physical tiredness only? I wasn't. And, yes LSU won the NC, but they played a cream puff schedule, lucked into not playing SC, and then shot the lights out like they hadn't before. Do we really know how great Reese is? Against teams that were actually good she certainly didn't put those numbers up.

 

[LSUAlum96]

Angel Reese cannot hit a left handed layup or shoot outside of 5 feet. Edwards is already a better all around player than Reese. Just looked out how Angel looked against South Carolina's front court versus Aaliyah if you want to compare the two. She also performed better against Tennessee. To say there is wide gap in Angels favor is just not reflective of reality.

Wait, what? Reese CONSISTENTLY shoots with either hand. In fact, this is one of the great things about her play in the post. Now, should she shoot more from the midrange to expand her game...............? Yep. But she shoots with either hand. As for play versus Tennessee, remember she played Tennessee twice. In the first game she had 18 pts 17 reb, and the second game she had 22 pts 11 rebs. She HARDLY played poorly vs the Vols.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

Getting tired should not be an excuse. Clark usually plays nearly every minute of every game.

She technically plays but she doesn't play both ends at high level. Defensively she often coasts especially as a off-ball defender. It's much easier to recover when you're not grinding it out on the defensive end as well like an Edwards.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

Angel does what she does without a PB or Azzi level player out there…AE misses too and doesn’t grab nearly as many of her own rebounds as Angel does. Angel is really skilled player who played with much less talent around her than AE did even without Azzi PB. As a uconn fan I really respect Angel’s game, especially given that she hasn’t developed a jumper yet and still gets hers. Everyone gets tired, i don’t think that’s a good enough excuse, especially given Angel actually averaged about 1 minute more than AE. I have love for both players, but I don’t think it’s fair to try to take away what Angel has done or compare to AE

I don't know about the less talent bit. I think people are definitely underestimating the talents of a LaDhazia and Alexis, those are two higher caliber players and freshmen like Flau'jae and Sa'Myah have also shown some great flashes as well. She did some heavy lifting but it's not like she was in a situation similar to a Morrow or a Siegrist.

As for her game, I agree she has a done well at using her strengths to her advantage, which is attacking the rim and being restless on the boards. My worry for Angel is I haven't seen any development in her game. Her midrange was practically non-existent, her post-moves is severely lacking and her handling needs some work. Maybe if she was 6'6 I could overlook some of these but I worry for her pro aspirations if this doesn't dramatically improve.

 

[bballtalk]

Ive been a Uconn wbb fan for the last 10 years, but I’m from New Orleans and have been an LSU fan all my life. I watch a lot of Uconn and LSU. I love AE and think she’s an excellent player. But Reese has the killer mentality Edwards lack. No matter what, Reese thinks she’s the best player on the court. Sometimes she’s not, but you won’t be able to tell her that. She has an arrogance to her that makes her so dominating. You can’t break her spirit. Edwards is very good, but she doesn’t have the killer mentality Reese has. Edwards had dominating games, Reese dominated the season. Every game it felt she could go out and get 20-20. Edwards had the chance to be as dominating with Azzi and Paige out, but it didn’t really happen. She was still really good, but sometimes she could disappear. Biggest game of the year vs Ohio state, Edwards gives you 4 points. That’s not me saying she’s a bad player. Reese is just a different beast, love it or hate it.

 

[bballtalk]

This part. UTAH was an airballed free throw away from keeping LSU out of the Final Four, and Virginia tech was up double digits until a fourt quarter mental collapse. LSU deserved to win the championship and are worthy National Champions but people are acting like they were South Carolina last year, the clear and away best team in the country.

Who thinks this? I promise you LSU fans know that roster was not complete at all. They went on a run, that’s literally what March Madness is and should be. In WBB march madness has been dominated by top programs, but on the Mens side its always the luckiest team and the one who’s hot at the right time. I promise you FAU, SDSU, Miami, and Uconn were not the “best” teams in the country. And guess what it doesn’t matter. Every time you step on the court you have to win ONE game. Doesn’t matter how you do it. Just WIN.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Who thinks this? I promise you LSU fans know that roster was not complete at all. They went on a run, that’s literally what March Madness is and should be. In WBB march madness has been dominated by top programs, but on the Mens side its always the luckiest team and the one who’s hot at the right time. I promise you FAU, SDSU, Miami, and Uconn were not the “best” teams in the country. And guess what it doesn’t matter. Every time you step on the court you have to win ONE game. Doesn’t matter how you do it. Just WIN.

I mean you apparently aren't on social media where people are calling the LSU the Golden State Warriors and expecting them to go undefeated next year now that they added Hailey Van Lith (Kevin Durant).

 

[JellyBean]

I think a lot of fans didn’t really watch LSU last year except for a few games and in the postseason. But if you were watching consistently you know that Van Lith really helps this team. I don’t understand the “its only one ball” comments and the chemistry comments. Every team has chemistry issues right now it’s literally April. Some dislike for Reese’s antics or Mulkey has put a negative connotation on LSU for some fans.

Firstly, if you watched LSU you would know that Morris is not a point guard. She played shooting guard in 2021 when Pointer was the point guard. She had to play point guard last year because LSU didn’t have anyone else. Also as good as Morris was in some games, she also had the tendency to disappear in other games.

Scoring was not always pretty for LSU this year. Yeah they went crazy in the title game, but a lot of the times it was a lot of standing around and Reese trying to do so much. This was not supposed to be the year for LSU. The team had no depth from the bench. A lot people thought LSU wasn’t that good this year. They were able to go on a run and got hot at the right time.

Now bringing in Van Lith, signing Williams and Rosario, second years from Johnson and Smith and Reese coming back. They have a team that can compete for a title. That’s not saying they are a lock to win the title but they have as good a team as anyone else. Mulkey has delivered at LSU, and she now puts them in championship contention every year.

There’s a lot of negatives being brought up, but LSU is doing even better than they thought they would. Mulkey had to build, and now they are here. Losing Morris and Williams are big loses for them. Van Lith will help.

Great comments. I am sure there are some folks who have some negative vibes towards LSU but I am sure it is all in good taste. I was able to watch quite a few of LSU games this year and like you said, there were some games where LSU was hitting on all cylinders and some games where they weren't. With the addition of Hailey Van Lith, we all are hoping that it opens up options for LSU on the offensive end of the floor. The rest of the stuff, chemistry concerns, who starts/who sits, and shot selection, will all get worked out over the summer and into the fall.

 

[JellyBean]

Ive been a Uconn wbb fan for the last 10 years, but I’m from New Orleans and have been an LSU fan all my life. I watch a lot of Uconn and LSU. I love AE and think she’s an excellent player. But Reese has the killer mentality Edwards lack. No matter what, Reese thinks she’s the best player on the court. Sometimes she’s not, but you won’t be able to tell her that. She has an arrogance to her that makes her so dominating. You can’t break her spirit. Edwards is very good, but she doesn’t have the killer mentality Reese has. Edwards had dominating games, Reese dominated the season. Every game it felt she could go out and get 20-20. Edwards had the chance to be as dominating with Azzi and Paige out, but it didn’t really happen. She was still really good, but sometimes she could disappear. Biggest game of the year vs Ohio state, Edwards gives you 4 points. That’s not me saying she’s a bad player. Reese is just a different beast, love it or hate it.

I noticed that she didn't have that killer mentality against South Carolina. Just saying. Did she disappear?

 

[bballnut90]

Who thinks this? I promise you LSU fans know that roster was not complete at all. They went on a run, that’s literally what March Madness is and should be. In WBB march madness has been dominated by top programs, but on the Mens side its always the luckiest team and the one who’s hot at the right time. I promise you FAU, SDSU, Miami, and Uconn were not the “best” teams in the country. And guess what it doesn’t matter. Every time you step on the court you have to win ONE game. Doesn’t matter how you do it. Just WIN.

This ^^. Literally no one has stated anything suggesting they were the clear top dog last year. They're being talked a lot about now going into next season, but I haven't seen anyone try to rewrite history about their place in the 2022-23 season. They were a solid team that played some of their best basketball at the right time and got the job done.