"My college experience definitely helped me": TCU's Hailey Van Lith credits March Madness after bronze medal win at 2024 Paris Olympics

Hailey Van Lith is now an Olympic medalist after the guard won bronze in the 3x3 women's basketball at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Van Lith played for the LSU Tigers last season and has since transferred to TCU for her final year of college eligibility.

In a video shared by the NCAA on TikTok, Van Lith credited her college experience, specifically March Madness, for her Olympics success. She also thanked the Horned Frogs fans for their support.

"My college experience definitely helped prepare me a little bit for the Olympics," Van Lith said. "How to win in tight situations. How to persevere and be resilient. Those are all things that I learned through my NCAA Tournament experience.

"So, hopefully, I can continue to apply them. Go Horned Frogs! Really appreciated all the support from you guys."

View on TikTok

While she has been excelling in the Olympics, Hailey Van Lith has also been fulfilling her academic duties. In an interview with USA Today, she revealed that she is finishing up her master's degree at LSU at the moment.

"I'm finishing my master's in business at LSU and I'm starting my master's in liberal arts at the same time at TCU," Van Lith said. "So, doing that together, it's been a process, but hopefully, it'll work out and I'll graduate in a couple days from LSU. Diploma and medal, we're educated and sporty here."

The Horned Frogs will be hoping to reach the NCAA Tournament this year after failing to make the postseason since 2010.

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Hailey Van Lith explains why Team USA struggled to win games

Despite playing 3x3 games since her high school days, Hailey Van Lith struggled initially as Team USA started the tournament 0-3. However, the Americans gradually stacked more wins, including a few back-to-back matchups.

Van Lith explained that the lack of 3x3 games in the nation is a huge reason for Team USA's struggles.

"We're playing against basically professional 3-on-3 players," the guard said. "America's really the only country that hasn't evolved to that. All these girls are playing, they get paid by their country to play 3-on-3 full-time. And in America, 5-on-5 is the culture. Like that's what we do. This is our side job.

"So they just have such strong chemistry and flow that we're almost trying to play catchup. But we're so talented that we can hang around when we're not quite there. But I think we're getting there right now."

A portion of Hailey Van Lith's concerns could be solved with the introduction of Unrivaled, a professional women's basketball league. Founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, the league will play 3x3 games with three teams for now.

What did you think of Team USA's journey in the Olympics? Let us know in the comments section below.

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