TCU’s Hailey Van Lith was named Big 12 Player of the Year earlier this week.

The former LSU guard transferred to TCU this offseason after her one year in Baton Rouge didn’t go as planned, and she has quickly turned back into her old self.

In her first season with the TCU Horned Frogs, Van Lith started 31 games and averaged 17.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. She shot 45.4% from the field and 33.1% from three and helped lead the Horned Frogs to a 28-3 (16-2 Big 12) record and the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. As you can tell, she was very deserving of the award.

After three seasons at Louisville where she was one of the best guards in the country, Van Lith came to LSU in 2024 in hopes of winning a national championship. The Tigers were coming off their first national title in program history and had Kim Mulkey, who’s one of the best coaches the sport has ever seen.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out with Van Lith at LSU. Mulkey tried to make her a point guard – which is something she wanted to try – and it just didn’t go well. She averaged 11.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists while turning it over 2.6 times per game. She also shot just 37.8% from the field. Van Lith is at her best when she’s a score-first guard, and that’s not what LSU wanted her to be.

The 2023-2024 LSU roster was absolutely loaded with talent. They had Angel Reese, Aneesah Morrow, Flau’jae Johnson, Mikaylah Williams and Van Lith, and there were just too many mouths to feed. Nobody believed Van Lith lost her talent in Baton Rouge, it just wasn’t a good fit.

Now, Van Lith has found her new home and she is absolutely thriving. She has the Horned Frogs in position to be a three-seed or better in March Madness, so we could end up seeing a LSU vs TCU matchup in a few weeks.