Sedona Prince Prioritizing Growth and Leadership On and Off the Court
The days of the Oregon Ducks' "Big Three" of Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally, and Ruthy Hebard are growing old. The days of Duck fans petitioning for Nike to sell No. 20 shirts and jerseys during the 2018-19 postseason are in the distant past, but they paved the way for another Oregon women's basketball player to earn a profit off her name, image, and likeness: Sedona Prince.
Prince may have just one year of college basketball under her belt after missing the past couple of years due to injuries and NCAA transfer rules, but she is already one of the most recognizable faces in college athletics and one of the biggest advocates for the rights of female athletes and NIL rule changes. At 6-foot-7, she's pretty hard to miss on campus as well.
Few college athletes have a bigger following on social media — Prince has nearly three million followers on TikTok, nearly a quarter of a million followers on Instagram, and over 43,000 followers on Twitter. With that audience comes a platform, and she has used that to help expose inequalities in treatment between male and female student athletes — particularly with the difference in workout equipment and meals for the women's NCAA Tournament versus the men's — as well as to call for action to allow student athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness.
She has helped student athletes, especially female athletes, to earn a profit through the NIL rule change, which she played a role in when she was involved in a class action lawsuit in the summer of 2020 against the NCAA for its prohibition of athletes profiting off of their NIL.
Now, Prince is reaping the rewards of standing up for student athletes, as she opened up her own merchandise store, has a Cameo account, and will likely have even bigger deals coming her way.
With all of this attention coming her way on the internet and on campus, as well as focusing on basketball and schoolwork, Prince said that she has had to "grow up" in the past few months.
"I kind of had to take control of my own life pretty much, and now that I am doing everything by myself, I have kind of just grown up and taken on a new leadership role," Prince said. "And that also translates to basketball as well. It's helped me be a better person in all aspects of my life."
Prince is no longer the same person she was when she was the No. 8 recruit in the nation, according to ESPN, and a McDonald's All-American coming out of Liberty Hill High School in Texas. She said that it's taken a lot of pain and challenges with mental health and pressure that have led to positive growth and her success as an activist, an entrepreneur, and a basketball player.
"I'm just enjoying every side of it because it's an amazing process," Prince said. "It's not about the end goal, about how much money I make, it's just about learning, helping other student athletes be a leader and making an impact on this team."
Prince is adjusting to living her life on a rather large scale, but that doesn't hold her back from posting content about her journey and her triumphs.
"I just try to share my life in a happy way, help people smile and make my social media content a safe place for people to watch and to be happy."
People are certainly happy to see Prince not just on social media but on campus as well. She enjoys meeting students who are thrilled to see her and take pictures with her.
"The students here are very nice to me, like all the interactions I have," she said. "Everyone's so excited to see me and take pictures and autographs, so it's been a journey. It's definitely been a lot to adjust to, just because my life is forever changed. I wouldn't go back. It's a blast."
Head Coach Kelly Graves certainly noticed the on-campus celebrity that is Sedona Prince at an Oregon football game at Autzen Stadium. Prince entered the student section to a roar of applause, which caught Graves' attention.
"I was down on the field when that happened. I swear to God, I thought Bruce Springsteen had come in, or Marcus Mariota, somebody because there was such a huge uproar in the student section," Graves said. "Then as I looked up, I saw it was Sedona."
Graves dubbed Prince the "poster child for the NIL" and said that she has managed all of the contracts and sponsors well, but that she hasn't let any of that affect her game on the court.
"I think she's working harder than she ever has," Graves said. "There are a lot of eyes on her, and so far she hasn't changed. She has great passion for what she believes in. She's very knowledgeable and then can articulate it with the best of them. I'm really proud of her."
While the NIL and all of the marketing opportunities coming her way are important to her, Prince still knows what her priorities are.
"I see basketball and school as the number one priority in my life," she said. "That has to be number one. It'll never change. Nothing else will trump that. I'm here at Oregon to play basketball and to be a student and to get my degree, and that's what I'm gonna do first.
"Once you get into NIL stuff, you get passionate about it. I have definitely found my passion. I love business marketing and content creation. It's also helped me realize that now I have to work really hard at basketball, and it's also translated to school. I understand the importance of everything in my life, and I'm trying to do as much as I can to be the best person I can."
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