Prince of Sedona is beginning his seventh and final year of college basketball. Her viral video Back in the NCAA Tournament bubble in 2021 to his role in a landmark antitrust lawsuit that will help get money for college athletes, he has already made his mark off the court.

If he can help TCU have a memorable season on the court, it will be a welcome bonus.

Prince, now 24, was one of the lead plaintiffs in the case. Lawsuit between House and the NCAA which led to the $2.8 billion NCAA settlement agreement which recently received preliminary approval from a federal judge. When it’s finally finished, the deal will allow universities to pay their athletes directly, perhaps as early as next fall. It also includes millions in damages.

“It’s a big victory, something we’ve been trying for a long time,” Prince said in an interview with The Associated Press. “A big step forward. There is much to do in the future. “It’s more than we could have ever asked for and a step in the right direction.”

The prince’s journey

It’s been quite a journey for Prince, whose career began in 2018 with Texas before leaving for Oregon after breaking his leg playing for USA Basketball.

She was with the Ducks in March 2021 when her social media video went viral for exposing the disparities between the women’s weight room in the NCAA Tournament bubble and the one for the men, as well as the differences in the food. The video embarrassed tournament organizers and prompted apologies (the New York Times a year later called it “The Video That Changed the NCAA”) and sparked changes throughout women’s basketball.

“Making those changes is incredible and I hope it stays that way, and not just because of a massive scandal and a player exposing them on the national stage,” Prince told the AP afterward. “Things shouldn’t be arranged that way.”

More than three years later, Prince can look back on the uproar and contextualize the changes she helped drive.

“The weight room video was crazy, something I wouldn’t have expected when I was 20 years old,” Prince said.

the demand

She was even younger in June 2020 when she and former Arizona State swimmer Grant House became lead plaintiffs in the landmark antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA and the nation’s five largest conferences. Its primary goal was to eliminate rules prohibiting athletes from making money based on the use of their names, images or likenesses, and a year later, the NCAA paved the way for the NIL era in college athletics.

“I didn’t know this lawsuit would benefit anyone financially in any way,” he says now. “My biggest goal was to create change. When I wasn’t playing, I started building my social media platform and it started gaining traction. “I knew then that I could be a person to create this change, especially from the position I was in.”

“They asked me to be a plaintiff in the lawsuit,” he added. “I educated myself on what NIL means, what it is, how I could help, I dove deep into this particular conversation, and I agreed to become a plaintiff.”

Prince was also part of a federal lawsuit along with Duke football player Dewayne Carter and Stanford soccer player Nya Harrison that sought to block the NCAA from enforcing any rules prohibiting compensation to athletes. The deal announced in May aims to address those concerns.

Prince said he envisions a future where schools can directly pay athletes what they are worth, and those days appear to be coming quickly.

“NIL started out as something very different, now it is morphing into a salary for student-athletes,” he said. “It’s very different looking back. The way I made my NIL money was by doing brand deals, now student-athletes will be able to get paid to play for school. It’s great to wonder where he will be next year.”

The last season

Prince spent a few years in Oregon before injuring his elbow and needing reconstructive surgery. The 6-foot-7 center dropped out of school and moved to Los Angeles, thinking her college career was over.

Two weeks before the 2023 WNBA draft, which she had participated in, she saw that Oregon assistant Mark Campbell had accepted the TCU head coaching job. She called him to see if she could play at the school a few hours’ drive north of where she played the high school player in Liberty Hill, Texas.

After a lot of paperwork, he enrolled at TCU, only to break his finger 14 games into last season. After surgery, he was sidelined for almost two months. Prince ended up averaging 19.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in 21 games.

“At the end of the season last year I thought it was over, but the NCAA called us on the phone saying there was one more year left,” he said.

Prince, who has only played 70 games in six years, noted that two redshirt seasons and an extra year of COVID left her with seven eligible seasons and that “finally, all the pieces fell into place and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.” being and everything happens for a reason.”

TCU’s season opener is Tuesday at home against Houston Christian. Prince can’t wait, even if her legacy is already established, and she is eager to prepare for the upcoming WNBA draft with her professional career hopes alive and well.

“Being the player I want to be on the court, I haven’t been able to show it yet,” she said. “I haven’t been able to impact the game with my basketball game due to injuries, but off the court I’ve been able to improve the game, close the gap inch by inch.”

–Doug Feinberg | AP Basketball Writer