Audi Crooks Is Already Better Than Some NBA Players. Now She’s Changing College Basketball Forever.
Audi Crooks Is Already Better Than Some NBA Players. Now She's Changing College Basketball Forever.
Audi Crooks entered the transfer portal on Thursday morning. She announced it on Instagram. Within an hour, every major women’s basketball program in the country started making calls.
This was expected. When the most dominant player in college basketball becomes available, you don’t wait. You pick up the phone.
But the story of how Audi Crooks became the most dominant player in college basketball is the part most people don’t know. It starts in Algona, Iowa, population 5,274, and it involves a pair of basketball parents, a number that shows up in every chapter, and a loss that shaped everything.
Algona
Audi Crooks grew up in Algona, a small town in north-central Iowa where everybody knows everybody and the nearest city of any real size is over an hour away. Her parents were both basketball players. Her father, Jimmie Crooks, was a 6-foot-8 post player who earned all-conference honors in college. Her mother, Michelle, was one of the all-time leading scorers at Bishop Garrigan, the same high school Audi would later attend. Both of them wore number 55.
Audi grew up playing basketball against her mother on a hoop in the driveway. She learned the game the old-school way. Post moves. Footwork. Patience. How to establish position before the ball even arrives.
Her father played the piano at their local Baptist church. When Audi was 11, Jimmie had her stick around after the weekly service and pointed her toward the drum kit. He played piano while she learned the basics. Music became their thing.
Jimmie Crooks died on August 14, 2021. He was 55 years old. Audi was 16.
She has worn number 55 at every level since. For her dad. For her mom. For both of them.
On her right arm, she has a tattoo. The word “Pops” in black ink. A halo. Angel wings. And a Bible verse: Proverbs 3:6. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
Before every game, she prays. She talks to her father. She says he has the best seat in the house.
Bishop Garrigan
At Bishop Garrigan High School, Audi Crooks was not just good. She was historically dominant. She scored 2,733 points in her high school career. As a senior, she averaged 32.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 75.2% from the field. She broke the Iowa single-season scoring record.
In the 2023 Class 1A state championship game, she scored 49 points and led Bishop Garrigan to a 68-57 victory. It was the school’s second consecutive state title.
A viral video of her dominating at an AAU tournament for the CY Select Wolves earned her a nickname: Lady Shaq. The comparison to Shaquille O’Neal was about presence. She moved through the paint with a physicality and footwork that looked like it belonged in a different era. Scouts and fans across the country took notice.
Iowa State
She chose Iowa State. And from the moment she arrived, the numbers were absurd.
As a freshman in 2023-24, Crooks averaged 19.2 points and 7.8 rebounds in 33 games. She was already one of the best players in the Big 12. Then the NCAA tournament started.
In the first round against Maryland, Iowa State trailed by 20 points. Crooks took over. She finished with 40 points on 18-of-20 shooting. Ninety percent from the field. In her NCAA tournament debut.
She joined Bill Walton as the only player in NCAA Tournament history to score 40 or more points on 90% shooting or better. Walton did it in the 1973 national championship game for UCLA. Crooks did it as a true freshman in the first round. She tied Brittney Griner for the most points by a Big 12 player in tournament history. Iowa State completed the 20-point comeback and won 93-86. It was the second-largest comeback in women’s tournament history.
As a sophomore, she averaged 23.4 points on 60.5% shooting. She was a First Team All-Big 12 selection for the second straight year.
Then came her junior season, the one that turned her into a household name.
She averaged 25.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on 64.9% from the field. Second in the nation in scoring. She scored 47 points on 19-of-25 shooting against Indiana. She scored 43 on 18-of-23 against Valparaiso in under 20 minutes of game time. She scored 41 against Kansas and 41 against Kansas State. She was the only player in the country with multiple 40-point games this season. She had nine games with 30 or more points. Twelve double-doubles. Twenty-three games with at least 20 points.
She earned AP Second Team All-American honors and became a three-time First Team All-Big 12 selection.
Kevin Garnett, the NBA Hall of Famer, shared a highlight of Crooks on social media and called her game “old-school fundamentals mixed with new-age dominance.”
Iowa State became the most-watched women’s college basketball team in the country. The “Audi Crooks Effect” was real. Coach Bill Fennelly said he gets an email almost every day from a parent saying their kid started playing basketball because of her.
The Noise
Audi Crooks has dealt with more noise than most players twice her age. Since she was 13 years old and first appeared on ESPN, people have commented on her body instead of her game. The comments never stopped. They followed her from AAU to high school to Iowa State.
Her response has been the same every time: play.
“Being strong is something that I’m proud of,” she told ESPN. “Being big is something that I’m proud of.”
She said it plainly in another interview: “There might be 100 comments about my body or about how I look. But then there are 1,000 about my skill set, about my character, about how I smile and about how I treat other people.”
She doesn’t engage with hecklers. She doesn’t respond to trolls. She plays basketball, and she lets the scoreboard do the talking.
The Transfer
Iowa State’s season ended in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a loss to Syracuse. Crooks scored 37 points in the loss. It wasn’t enough. The team fell apart around her. Multiple teammates entered the portal. The program was in freefall.
Crooks had a decision to make. She had one year of eligibility left.
On Thursday morning, she made it official. She posted on Instagram that she would be entering the transfer portal. The biggest name in women’s college basketball was available.
Within minutes, the speculation started. UConn. South Carolina. LSU. Texas. Every blue blood in the country will be calling. Crooks is a program-altering talent, the kind of player who can turn a contender into a champion overnight.
What Comes Next
Audi Crooks is 21 years old. She’s from a town of 5,274 people in north-central Iowa. She grew up shooting on a driveway hoop with her mom. She lost her father when she was 16 and has carried his number on her back and his name on her arm ever since.
She scored 2,733 points in high school. She scored 40 on 90% shooting in her first NCAA tournament game. She averaged 25.8 points on 64.9% as a junior. She plays the game the way it was played before everyone started launching threes from the logo.
And now she’s available. One year left. One more chance to win the national championship she hasn’t won yet.
Wherever Audi Crooks goes next will become the center of women’s college basketball. That’s what happens when the most dominant force in the sport decides she’s ready for a new stage.
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
