Hailey Van Lith calls out media predictions about TCU after Elite Eight loss

Hailey Van Lith let the media have it following the conclusion of TCU’s season in the Elite Eight Monday night. Van Lith transferred to the school prior to the start of the season and she had expectations.

Apparently, members of the media didn’t for her and the rest of the squad. Van Lith had plenty of big game experience at Louisville and LSU throughout her career.

So why not with the Horned Frogs? Led by Van Lith, TCU made a run to the Elite Eight, falling just short of the Final Four in a loss to Texas.

“Yeah, I don’t even know if we really had a whole lot of expectations,” Van Lith said postgame. “I mean, at the end of the day, we weren’t ranked at the beginning of the year, you know, a lot of my teammates didn’t get the recognition and the accolades they deserve. I only made third team, Sedona was only honorable mention and somehow we’re in the Elite Eight knocking off people that had first teamers or second-teamers, Player of the Years in their conference. So holy crap, how did we get here? We weren’t very good apparently to the public.

“We’re some dogs for fighting for that. When nobody expects you to do something, it’s hard to find the grit to go out and do it. I wouldn’t have had that game — a dogfight is the way to go out and I thought we put up a fight. Texas played really well, congrats to them. I wouldn’t have went out any other way.”

While they fell short of their ultimate goal in a 58-47 loss to Texas, Van Lith and the rest of the seniors left an impact on TCU. It was important for all of them to put it in perspective.

“After the game, what was going on after the game? Yeah, I mean, a lot of it was just gratitude for each other,” Van Lith said. “We’ve all been on unique journeys, and we’ve all meant different things to each other at different points in our lives, and, yeah, it was a ton of gratitude, a ton of love and a lot of people spoke. It wasn’t just us four, it wasn’t just Coach Campbell, it was really awesome to hear. 

“It broke your heart even more hearing each other talk because you realize tomorrow, like, we won’t get to practice. But I’m forever connected to these women and this coaching staff, and so I am just really honored to have them in my life and it was awesome to hear from everybody.”