Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow were the two most sought-after players in the women’s basketball transfer portal. Van Lith was an experienced three-year starter at Louisville. She had never fallen short of the Elite Eight come March and finished her junior year as a career 42.2% shooter. She shouldn’t have been available but made the shock decision to graduate early from Louisville and play one more year as a graduate transfer.
Morrow is one of the best players in the nation, despite only being a sophomore. Barely getting attention out of high school, the Chicago-born player chose to attend nearby DePaul. There has been the heart of the Blue Demons team on both sides of the court. Averaging 23.5 points and 13.0 rebounds a game, Morrow played elite basketball despite rarely finding herself with anything less than a double team on her. Now both she and Van Lith will join Angel Reese at LSU next season.
Aneesah Morrow Commits to LSU
#24 New Home
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COMMITTED pic.twitter.com/odeWNYz3OK— Aneesah Morrow (@AneesahMorrow24) May 5, 2023
Morrow had narrowed her transfer choices to three schools – LSU, South Carolina, and USC. She has relished the spotlight, taking every opportunity to hype her personal brand and transfer decision. But on May 5, she finally revealed where she was headed next. “New Home” Morrow wrote on Twitter, followed by a gold and purple heart. Morrow had been stood at a crossroads and decided to venture south to Baton Rogue. She joins Van Lith on the reigning National Champions after Van Lith committed on April 27.
LSU now stand as far and away the best roster in women’s basketball heading into the 2023-24 season. The addition of Van Lith raised them above UConn to the #1 spot on ESPN‘s “Way Too Early Top 25”. With Morrow joining the Tigers too, that ranking is unarguable now. Alongside Reese, Van Lith, Morrow, Kim Mulkey’s squad is stacked. Alongside sophomore-to-be Flau’jae Johnson, LSU welcomes two top-10 freshman to Baton Rogue in the fall. With South Carolina rebuilding after the loss of their generational class, this may be the year LSU wins the SEC. LSU last won the SEC regular-season championship in 2008 but have not claimed the tournament title since 2003.
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