Hailey Van Lith was BETTER Than Caitlin Clark but then it ALL Went Wrong...

so Haley vanl was supposed to be better than Caitlyn Clark coming into college with Caitlyn Clark in Louisville and Haley vanl in Iowa Haley vanl was the player that maybe had more National hype yes Kaylin Clark was ranked a few spots ahead of her but Haley vanit was meant to be that player she was meant to be that Elite guard well not even necessarily Elite guard but the next best guard after paig Beckers with a festar recruit going to Louisville 98 overall ranked seventh in the class yes a few spots behind Caitlyn Clark but if you want to look at the Team USA under 19s like if you want to look at the 2019 Team USA under 19 women's this was a team that had Paige Beckers Ryan Howard they had a lot of good players but Haley van lith this is the year before they go to college Haley van lith averaging 9.1 points per game 2.3 assists per game she was the player that was playing more minutes than Caitlin Clark van lith 24.9 minutes per game she was a starter Caitlin Clark was coming off the bench and was also shooting terribly 33% heck like she's someone who now looks like she's her future is in three on three getting an Allstar in the Olympic Games is incredibly impressive especially with how this team started and getting a team of bronze that was impressive but what actually happened to Haley van lith so Haley van lith was really really really good at Louisville I don't think anyone really is going to question that she was one of the best guards in the nation and she was dominant through her first three years expected to be a first round draft pick like Louisville Haley vanl people do not understand the people that are like oh Haley van lit was never any good like why it's just hype it's just Instagram hype they forget just how good Haley Vani was when she was in Louisville she was an absolutely unbelievable unbelievable score she could score with the best of them and Louisville were good like this isn't like Louisville just just being terrible it's not like they were terrible at all like Haley van lit was up there with the best guards in the league she was averaging quite similar numbers to what caiton Clark was averaging I if you want to look at Haley vanet's Louisville page you're seeing it here she's averaged 19.7 points a game as a junior like ACC player at a week she was incredible absolutely incredible as a sophomore 18 of the top 25 players in the W or in the NCAA tournaments she represented USA basketball in 3v3 wasn't able to represent the under 19s she was too old whereas Caitlyn Clark was a little bit younger and won MVP heck even as a freshman second on the team um third with 11.2 points she maybe wasn't Caitlyn Clark hype as a freshman but afterwards her hype was there or thereabouts and then she made a really really bad call she was expected to be a first round draft pick this year when we're talking about guards in the 2024 WNBA draft people that were looking to come in especially when it was um American guards obviously you've got car Le and car Le and Le Lon they were two guards from overseas but as far as guards in this class that were eligible there was tahina powpow who's gone back to college obviously Haley vanet has as well but vanl transferring out of Louisville might have been one of the craziest decisions that she made and there's some Sound Logic to it but she went to LSU who had recently just won the National Championship so already there's a Target on her back people were not happy with that that vanl was considered to be the best guard in college basketball if not the best one of the best but she was transferring to the team who had just won she Kevin she did a Kevin Durant and this is a team that also got an isamar and was expected to go back to back by a lot of people if not it was going to be South Carolina who did end up winning in the end but van lith her points per game went down to 11.6 she only shot 37% field 33% from three and only had 3.6 assists per game running the one and even the game against Iowa she got cooked there's literally a meme of her doing that trying to guard Caitlyn Clark and she's just lost every bit of that hype and the reason for going to LSU I do think there's some logic in that I think she wanted to show that she was more of a point guard and she probably thought I'm going to run the one here I've got fla J on the team with me I got an isaro I got Angel Reese I got these players with me we're going to win I'm going to run the show I'm going to show that I'm more than just an undersized shooting guard in the mole of a Kelsey Mitchell I'm not this undersized shooting guard I can do both I can be that undersized shooting guard but I can also be um a point guard a facilitator a floor General and she all she showed at LSU was that she can't do that she is not a floor General at all and then having to transfer out of LSU and go to TCU her making the WNBA is still a question whether or not she makes it is based on how she plays this year I think think that she's going to be drafted I think there's no chance the three rounds of WNBA draft go without a team taking their chance at Haley vanith Haley vanith was an Allstar in the three on three she was the best player I know it's a different game but she was the best player in a three on three team with Ryan Howard Ryan Howard is one of better guards in the WNBA she was that isolation scorer she was the better option with the ball in her her hand she is still a great player but she's someone in the mold of a Kelsey Mitchell she's a 5'7 arque W and I just don't know how important that role is and she's also not necessarily showed that she has that ability to not be that number one option she struggled badly at the point guard position and I don't know what her plan's going to be for this year is her plan going to be I'm going to do what I did at Louisville I'm going to score I'm going to be that number one option and I'm going to go out there and prove to everybody why I was seen as the big the best guard in the country or at least seen as maybe not on a par with Caitlin Clark but in 2022 there wasn't that much of a difference between Caitlyn Clark and Haley Vani both of them weren't seen as being as good as ped Beckers who was obviously coming off an injury that year Paige was number one and in two and three was interchangeable between vanet and Clark in the 2023 season vanet was incredible but obviously kitlin Clark completely blew it out of water she overtook paig Beckers but nobody had any question about that heck Louisville made the final four with her as a star man or star woman as a sophomore to say Haley van lit has been had been poor in her college career is crazy she was exceptionally good she had an exceptionally good first three years of her college career one bad choice is the reason why she wasn't a first round draft pick this year but in this year's draft there is a significantly better guard showing last year's draft was exceptionally good but outside of Caitlyn Clark you're looking at the best players in the draft in Angel ree Cameron Brink Aaliyah Edwards um like Ria Jackson who's a forward they're all forwards and even ja Sheldon who I think got drafted so high purely because she was the best guard I don't think there were any great guards unless you want to like Kate Martin's been fine Celeste Taylor's been fine but you're looking at this year's draft page Beckers is there you've got Olivia miles who's there powpow is there um Sonia citran not necessarily a guard in the mold of a Haley vanit but she's a guard as well Ana Morrow is a wing but depending on a team could be playing the same position so I don't think the 2025 draft is as good as the 2024 but it's more is a lot more depth in that guard position so yeah I will say um it's going to be tougher it's going to be real tougher to get in in one of those top positions I can see potentially vanet's future being in three on three because haly vanet still is a big name Haley vanet is still someone that's going to draw eyes like when I was talking about the three on three team even though she was the least experienced Haley vanet's name will get more people watching it will get more people clicking than a lot of other players on the team so you got to give some credit that she has managed to keep up like on social media she still is a big star her relevancy is still there and I think no matter what a team is going to take a chance on her in the draft whether it be second round or third round I think she's going to go into the draft I think it's highly unlikely we see Haley vanit in the first round because she has shown that her ability to lead a team as a point guard and they pass for his point guard isn't really there but she can be an effective scoring guard I think she can come in not at the level of a Kelsey Mitchell but I think we saw in the three on three her ability to score in isolation I think that you have like the WNBA I think is going to have to move towards NBA type roles with players like Clark and Paige Beckers coming in especially if paig Beckers is allowed to play with a little bit of the freedom that she had in high school and at the start of her W or start of her college career we're going to see more teams playing like NBA teams we've seen it in the Olympics we've seen the way Belgium play Belgium moved the ball better than any of these European men's teams and they even though they don't have the players look exceptional these teams are going to start playing better basketball not just slow it down dump it into the bigs and I think Haley van lith is perfect for a sixthman role for a team like that if I'm the Indiana Fever I wouldn't mind getting her I wouldn't mind taking her with a late pick I think she'll offer more than victaria Saxton and the only issue is is that she's a very similar to Kelsey Mitchell and if you're going to start Kelsey Mitchell anyway Kelsey Mitchell's best role is probably the sixthman role if you're not going to be able to get that three and D player why not at least have a Kelsey Mitchell Gunner type player coming off the bench someone that might be able to get you a few buckets not be quite as crazy as Kelsey Mitchell and allow you to just come in the Jordan Clarkson type role to sit K CL on the bench for a few minutes take the ball out of her hands and be able to create a bit she's not as wild as Kelsey Mitchell so I think there is a spot for her but it's the right team I think there's a chance that she goes to the wrong team just like LSU was the wrong team and really struggles they're trying to make her into something that she's not and I think hopefully she's realized that she is that isolation score she's an undersized scorer probably best suited off the bench at um the high level and that she's just not capable of running that point guard position if she plays like she did at Louisville there's a buffer in the league and that player didn't just vanish as we saw with her getting an allar in a three on three the skills are there the player that she was did not vanish she just had a bad year in a bad fit at LSU she's not going to be that first round pick because I don't think that her best role is something that WNBA teams value right now I don't think they value that spark plug Off the Bench I think maybe they do might more now that we've seen what um Kennedy Carter did Off the Bench and in a similar mold to an arque or Kelsey Mitchell just obviously worse than both of them I think she can do that I think she can give you 10 15 points in any given game even right now at the WNBA level she's just not going to come in and run an offense which is what LSU tried to make her do and if teams want her to do that I don't see her making a pass training camp if teams allow her to be that scoring guard I think she can have a long career I think she just needs to get in with the right team otherwise I think she's probably going to be in the second season of unrivaled she's a big name she's one of the best three on three players in the world the best ISO scorers in the world so I can see her having a good long basketball career I think wherever she go if she ends up going overseas instead I think she could have an insanely good career overseas but I really do hope that she gets into a good situation because the bigger names are in the WNBA the better like Paige coming in is going to help Juju in a few years FL coming in these players coming in is are going to help the league and I do think everyone should want to see Haley van lit there because Haley van lith For Better or For Worse is fun to watch so anyway that's the video thank you guys for watching please like comment and subscribe