How viral videos sparked a women's NCAA tournament revolution
Oregon player Sedona Prince's videos chronicling the inequity between men's and women's NCAA tournament bubbles continues to have a massive impact.
An interactive basketball shooting game at the women's Final Four Tourney Town inside the Phoenix Convention Center features UCLA player Kiki Rice. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times) This year’s women’s Final Four has everything. Influencer houses, swag bags, a Super Bowl-esque media day and an outside tournament village.
That might not have ever happened if not for the inequities that blew up in the tournament five years ago. One of the flash points in women's college basketball history unfolded during the 2021 NCAA tournament, when all teams were quarantined in the same bubble in San Antonio for all rounds during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stanford, which ended up winning the national championship, spent most of the year practicing in Arizona because of California laws preventing indoor gatherings.
All the chaos culminated on social media, when former Oregon player Sedona Prince posted a video on TikTok showing a tiny rack of weights that looked nothing like the expansive weightlifting room set up for players in the men’s bubble in Indianapolis. UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker warms up with teammates during practice on Thursday prior to the women's Final Four in Phoenix. (Ross D.
Franklin / Associated Press) The inequity sparked a firestorm on social media. “I couldn't be prouder,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I was in the bubble when it got exposed, some of the differences.
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