How This Whole Thing Started
So I was scrolling around looking for some cool Hailey Van Lith clips from her Mississippi State days, right? Couldn’t find one good video that really showed off her best moves together. Everything was scattered. Figured, hey, I love basketball highlights and messing around with editing sometimes, maybe I should just make one myself. How hard could it be? Famous last words.
Finding the Raw Footage
First step was digging up the good stuff. Went straight to my bookmarks. Checked some old game archives I knew about.
- Spent hours rewatching full Mississippi State games from that season. Fast-forwarding, pausing, trying to spot the moments where she really popped.
- Kept notes like crazy. Jotted down timestamps whenever she made a slick pass, hit a tough jumper, or drove like a freight train to the hoop. My notebook looked messy, just scribbles everywhere.
- Hit a wall quickly. Not all the games I wanted were just sitting there ready. Had to branch out, searching for specific highlights tagged with her name. Took loooong time to filter through clips of other players or team stuff.
The Editing Nightmares
Alright, got maybe 30 timestamps? Felt ready. Opened up my free editing software. Oh boy.
- Importing took forever. My laptop ain’t the newest, and wrestling with different video files from different sources? Yeah, lag city. Fans started sounding like a jet engine.
- Chopping it up sucked. Trying to cut exactly where her move started and ended without looking awkward is tougher than it looks. Had so many clips where the cut felt just off, like half a second too early or late. Rage-quit twice.
- Music was a headache. Needed something with energy but not annoying. Tried like five different tracks. Played a few seconds with the action, muted it, tried another. Took ages to settle on one that sorta fit the vibe without overwhelming her plays.
Trying to Make it Actually Watchable
Finally had the basic sequence. Now for the polish. Or attempted polish.
- Transitions were tricky. Jump cuts looked too harsh. Tried fade, looked cheap. Settled mostly on simple cuts between similar action shots, threw in a slow zoom on a big basket here and there.
- Finding “the moment” clips was key. I focused on those plays where you just go “whoa” – the unexpected passes, the deep threes under pressure, the drives where she absorbed contact and finished. Dumped anything that felt routine.
- Quality control on me. Watched the whole rough cut at least ten times. Spotted weird pauses, spots where the music didn’t land, clips that felt out of place. Fixed what I could, accepted some jankiness.
Hitting Publish (Mostly Out of Exhaustion)
After what felt like days glued to the screen? Called it done. Not perfect, not Hollywood, but it showed off her game.
- Rendered the final video. That part alone took like an hour. Made a sandwich. Stared at the progress bar.
- Made a simple thumbnail. Just grabbed a clean still frame of her mid-drive, slapped some text on it saying “Best Moments”. Basic, but gets the point across.
- Named it what you see: “Best Hailey Van Lith Mississippi State Moments You Cant Miss Watch Now!” Description was just some quick thoughts on why I made it, her playing style.
Honestly, main feeling after hitting upload? Relief it was finally off my computer! And hey, maybe someone else who wanted these highlights bundled up finds it useful. Worth the headache? Mostly? Ask me tomorrow after my eyes stop burning.
