Hailey Van Lith, Jimmer Fredette Competing To Qualify Team USA For 2024 Olympics In New(ish) Basketball Format

Hailey Van Lith's crazy offseason is set to continue in Austria later this month. She will join a group of notable-name hoopers to compete for Team USA with a chance to qualify for the Olympics later this month.

Van Lith, who just wrapped her third and final season at Louisville, led her team to two Sweet Sixteens and an Elite Eight while in Kentucky. However, despite her success with the program to which she committed out of high school, she decided to seek new opportunity elsewhere and transferred to reigning national champion LSU.

Having averaged 19.7 points, 3.2 assists, and 1.5 steals per game with the Cardinals last season, Van Lith is a big addition to a stacked Tigers roster. She is also a big addition to USA Basketball’s three-on-three (3X3) lineup, which was announced over the weekend.

3X3 basketball, governed by FIBA, is as simple as it sounds.

Two teams of three, with one sub each, compete in a half-court game. First team to 21 points wins, with each two-point make counting as one and each three-point make counting as two. There is no break after scoring, no halftime and no quarters.

Although the 3X3 format has been around for a little while now, it made its Olympic debut in Tokyo. Latvia won gold on the men’s side after the United States didn’t even qualify, but Team USA won gold on the women’s side.

Team USA hopes to secure gold in both women's and men's 3X3 basketball in 2024.

Before the games get to Paris next summer, the process begins with the FIBA 3X3 World Cup. It will tip off on May 30 in Vienna and continue through June 4.

Strong showings from the men's and women's team later this month could secure bids to the 2024 Olympic Games. Both teams have the rosters to do so.

On the women's team, Van Lith will play alongside Stanford star Cameron Brink.

USA Basketball veteran Linnae Harper and three-time 3X3 World Cup participant Cierra Burdick will round out the four. They will be coached by Connecticut Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti.

The men are led by Jimmer Fredette. Fredette, of course, was known for his lights-out range while at BYU and helped to create the term "Jimmer range." He can hit from anywhere.

Fredette will play alongside the son of Rick Barry, Canyon Barry, who played in the NBA G-League for a few years but is currently unsigned.

Former Princeton star Kareem Maddox and 3X3 veteran Dylan Travis will round out the roster. They will be coached by Joe Lewandowski, who has a lot of experience in the 3X3 space.

While Berry, Maddox and Travis' names may not jump out off of the page like Fredette, Van Lith or Brink, this same men's team won gold for the U.S. at the AmeriCup in Miami last November.