The viral TikTok video that first put Vanderbilt women’s basketball in the spotlight was based on a lie.
In the summer of 2024, Jada Brown and Trinity Wilson each posted a video of the Commodores going to coach Shea Ralph’s house, surprising the coaches with a sleepover. The version of the video that Brown posted got over a million views.
They found out this week, it wasn’t actually a surprise. On-campus recruiting coordinator Koko Nelson had tipped off Ralph and her husband, Tom Garrick, a Vanderbilt assistant. Otherwise, they never would have been allowed inside the house.
When Mikayla Blakes revealed this to her teammates in the locker room the morning of March 20, it caught some of them by surprise.
“They’re good actors though,” Aubrey Galvan said. “I thought they were actually surprised.”
“Sorry, I had to, to save my job,” Nelson said in about why she spilled the beans.
The No. 2 seed Commodores (27-4) are preparing to play 15-seed High Point (27-5) in their opening game of the Women’s NCAA Tournament on March 21 (6 p.m. CT, ESPNews) at Memorial Gymnasium. Along the way to their best season in over a decade, the team has grown closer by making TikToks and doing live streams together before games, with several players gaining notoriety as influencers.
Before Vanderbilt played Texas in February, the players streamed a “get ready with me” video where they filmed themselves doing their hair and makeup. The video garnered some criticism on social media that the players weren’t fully locked in for the game. But the Commodores went on to beat the Longhorns by 16.
Brown, who was the first Vanderbilt player to become active in TikTok content creation, told The Tennessean that contrary to those criticisms, the players were doing things they would be doing anyway before games but simply with cameras involved. For Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph, there’s nothing wrong with the videos as long as the players put their phones down once in the locker room.
“We are teaching them what it looks like to be a team that’s going to compete for championships,” Ralph said. “So they don’t get to have their phones in (the locker room). … The people that don’t get asked questions are going to spend time together. We’re not going to get this time back. This is the only time this team is going to be together, and I want to make sure we make the most of it.”
Brown found success through her videos making snack bags before away games, something that has also enabled her to help people in need. She also makes general lifestyle content, including gear hauls and “day in the life.”
Other players found different niches. Wilson, Aga Makurat and Aiyana Michell have found success with relatable content showing funny moments, including practice and game bloopers and their reactions to certain practice situations. In one notable video, Makurat posted to TikTok and Instagram of a moment when she realized she forgot to put her jersey on and only realized it when she was about to enter a game against Texas Southern, including her teammates’ shocked reactions as she walked back to the bench.
“I went viral for the wrong reasons,” Makurat said. “My most viral video on Instagram has like six million views, and it’s the one that I forgot my jersey. So I had different reactions. I had a lot of hate, telling me to transfer and stuff, but I also got a lot of people saying that, at least she can make fun of herself. I thought it was funny.”
The players said they believed Ralph didn’t see the videos unless they went viral. But there are others on Vanderbilt’s staff who are on TikTok themselves and see the videos, including strength and conditioning coach Jena Ready.
“Coach Ralph sometimes says, people come up to me and are like, Oh, I love Trinity’s videos,” Wilson said.
Monique Williams, who is from Perth, Australia, first started doing TikToks when she saw the kinds of NIL opportunities that opened up for Brown. But she ended up finding an even greater purpose.
“It helps me connect with younger girls,” Williams said. “I get a lot of DMs from younger girls from Perth and Australia saying, how can I be where you are? And I think that’s really inspiring to me just because I feel like I’ve lived this reality. I didn’t realize how special it is to these girls.”
The players most active on TikTok are primarily bench players, but Vanderbilt’s starters get involved too. Blakes has a TikTok page where she posts occasional vlogs and dances. Sacha Washington isn’t into TikTok at all, but if her teammates ask her to be in a video, she will oblige.
“It’s fun creating content with them,” Washington said. “I like to see them living out their dreams. And I’m not into that stuff, like, this isn’t for me, but it’s for them and that’s cool, so I like to be in their stuff.”
In one video, posted by Blakes, younger players filmed themselves decorating the seniors’ locker rooms for senior night and then filmed their reaction seeing it. Videos like that, as well as the dances, hair and makeup tutorials and funny moments, have brought the team closer.
Beyond the locker room, social media has helped to raise the profile of women’s basketball. In 2021, then-Oregon player Sedona Prince brought attention to insufficient weight rooms during March Madness compared to the men. That video ended up bringing change to the women’s tournament.
Many top women’s players have brand deals; one oft-shown commercial during the NCAA tournament features UConn star Azzi Fudd. Those deals, unlike traditional revenue sharing deals with the schools, can continue after they graduate, including into the WNBA.
“That’s been one of the biggest pieces is just that social media presence from women, and the fact that different people, any division, can make these videos and be going viral, means a lot,” Mitchell said. “It used to only be certain people or teams that were already known, but now anybody has an opportunity.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
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