Sedona Fever: How one student-athlete took over social media and changed the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

When pictures leaked of the NCAA women’s basketball training room, many fans were furious. A few hours later, Oregon Ducks basketball player Sedona Prince posted videos
on the social media platform TikTok that detailed the true extent of the inequalities between the men’s and women’s facilities, goodie bags, and food. Suddenly, the twenty-year-old forward became the face of the fight against inequality in college athletics.

Prince, a sophomore from Texas, not only gained traction for her sports activism. With her 6’7 frame and bright smile, she started to gain a following from women within the LGBT community. Dubbed “SedonaTok”, fans who dreamed of a romantic relationship with Prince posted millions of videos
admiring her. Prince, who has 4 different TikTok accounts, has amassed over 1.7 million followers on her main account, as well as hundreds of thousands of followers on her side accounts.

On top of the romanticization of Prince, she championed the discussion of women’s sports in general. Many fans were shocked to see that the accommodations given to Prince and her teammates were wildly different from the accommodations given to the men’s teams, even though their tournaments were relatively the same. Even after the Ducks lost to Louisville in the Sweet Sixteen round, Prince asked her supporters and fans to continue watching the tournament and to support the other teams.

Prince has started many conversations surrounding gender biases both on and off the court. She has discussed the pressures of being thrust into the spotlight in a span of days, and how her mental health has been affected. She has even discussed the differences between being single and in a relationship in the public eye, and how she began to get hateful comments only after it was revealed that she was in
a relationship.

With her talents on the court, her online following, and her good looks, Sedona Prince is not going anywhere. With three more years of NCAA eligibility, Prince is sure to become a women’s basketball superstar before she ever even joins the
draft. As her career continues on, fans are excited to see what she will do both on and off the court in the coming years.