:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65901685/946516392.jpg.0.jpg)
Texas transfer and now Oregon redshirt freshman Sedona Prince will not be suiting up for the Ducks this season. The NCAA denied her appeal on Wednesday. Prince’s waiver for immediate eligibility already had been denied.
Prince, a 6-foot-7 forward, was signed by Oregon on July 15 after she missed her entire freshman year with the Longhorns due to injury. Originally from Liberty Hill, Texas Prince was the No. 8 recruit in the high school class of 2018. Fellow transfers Evina Westbrook and Destiny Littleton serve as two other examples of the NCAA denying immediate eligibility to women’s basketball players this season. Westbrook transferred from Tennessee to UConn and Littleton from Texas to South Carolina.
Yesterday, Kenny Jacoby of USA Today came out with an analysis of sexual misconduct by NCAA football players not leading to ineligibility. According to Jacoby:
The NCAA notoriously metes out punishments to student athletes for bad grades, smoking marijuana or accepting money and free meals. But nowhere in its 440-page Division I rulebook does it cite penalties for sexual, violent or criminal misconduct. And unlike the pro leagues, the NCAA has no personal conduct policy and no specific penalties for those who commit sexual assault.
And in the cases of Prince, Westbrook and Littleton, there were no rules broken in the first place — they just wanted to transfer to a program that better suited their needs.
Oregon coach Kelly Graves shared his thoughts on the situation:
We are obviously very disappointed in the decision made by the NCAA … We felt that we submitted a strong case and believed Sedona was deserving of the opportunity to play immediately once she was physically able. If this case doesn’t merit relief, I don’t know what does … This has not been an easy process for Sedona and she is extremely disappointed with the decision, but I know she will continue to be a tremendous teammate as she works hard to get back to full strength. I can’t wait to see her in a Duck uniform over the next three seasons.