Hailey Van Lith is trying to get with TCU where she went three times with Louisville, deep into the women’s NCAA Tournament. As fate would have it in the standout guard’s fifth and final March Madness, Van Lith faces her old team in the second round Sunday. “I’m just excited to play another game, whoever that may be. I’m up for the challenge. I love to compete, and it’s in God’s hands, man,” Van Lith said after TCU won its tournament opener, even before Louisville had advanced. “I’m just going to go out there and try to be the same girl that I’ve always been. I have a team that loves me. I have a team that has my back.” Van Lith started 101 games and averaged 15.4 points for the Cardinals while going to an NCAA Final Four and two other Elite Eights from 2021-23. Their two-time leading scorer then transferred to join an LSU team coming off a national championship and made it to another Elite Eight last March before moving again. Her final college season is with a TCU program that has never been past the second round and before now had gone 15 years since even making the tournament. The on-court reunion for Van Lith, now the Big 12 player of the year, and Louisville almost happened in last year’s NCAA Tournament. But the Cardinals lost a first-round game for the only time in 16 appearances under coach Jeff Walz when Middle Tennessee overcame an 18-point deficit and moved on to play LSU in the second round. When this year’s bracket set up the possibility again, Big 12 champion TCU beat Fairleigh Dickinson for its first NCAA win since 2006 and Louisville followed on the same court Friday with a victory over Nebraska. “We won a lot of games. … We had really good basketball teams. She was a big part of it, she had a great career,” Walz said about Van Lith after the matchup was set. “She graduated college in three years, which nobody really talks about, and they should. Because that’s our job as coaches. Sure, if you lose games, you get fired. But at the end of the day, it’s to get kids to graduate from college. She did that in three years and decided to make a move, which is great. Everybody does it. It’s no big deal.” After averaging a team-best 14.4 points when the Cardinals made it to the Final Four in 2022, Van Lith scored 19.7 a game as a junior in her final season with them. “Obviously it was a part of my journey,” Van Lith said before the start of this NCAA Tournament. “I’ve evolved past that part of who I was there, but there is still people there that I love, and so I wish them well.” Mark Campbell has rebuilt TCU’s program with transfers since being hired as coach two years ago this month. Sedona Prince and Madison Conner were among the first additions, then Van Lith came in with Taylor Bigby (USC) and Donovyn Hunter (Oregon State) this season. Van Lith was part of Louisville’s 2020-21 freshman class with Olivia Cochran and Merissah Russell, who are now in their fifth seasons. The only other current Cardinals player that Van Lith played with is junior forward Nyla Harris. “They’re a great ball club. They’re undefeated at home,” Cochran responded when asked about facing TCU and Van Lith. “We’re going to go out and compete, go for it with a game plan Coach Walz and the coaching staff have for us. It’s just going to be a ballgame. That’s all I’ve got to say. Go Cards.” ...read more read less