Hailey Van Lith is focused on making the USA Basketball 3×3 Olympic team this summer and not worried about where she’ll end up at college next year.
Van Lith is currently taking part in a training camp in Springfield, Massachusetts, and will play in a 3×3 tournament early next week at The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 22-year-old guard, who played at Louisville and LSU, has experienced success in 3×3 for the U.S. She won a gold medal on the U18 team in 2019 and helped win gold at the FIBA 3×3 World Cup last year. The Paris Games is the second Olympics offering 3×3, after the event debuted in Tokyo in the 2021 Games.
“What I remember most is that every game is so unique,” she said of 3×3 play. “The strategy from game to game is so different. You can’t specialize in one thing and make it as a player in 3 on 3. You have to be able to guard every position for at least a couple of seconds.”
Van Lith has a chance to make the Paris Games because two of the four members of the U.S. team must be in America’s top 10 for total points accumulated in FIBA rankings. Van Lith currently qualifies at fifth.
Playing in the training camp with so many WNBA players — Dearica Hamby, Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard — has helped Van Lith improve her game.
“Playing against them and seeing…
