From the small-town gyms of Algona to the biggest stages in college basketball, Audi Crooks’ rise has always been rooted in family. Guided by parents who once played the game, she carried that passion to Bishop Garrigan High School and powered back-to-back state title runs. That same foundation now fuels a season that is quickly becoming one of the most remarkable in college basketball history.

How Audi Crooks Is Redefining College Basketball

At 6-foot-3, Audi Crooks doesn’t fit the so-called “traditional” athlete mold, and sadly, that’s made her a target for body-shaming on social media. Fans have questioned her build, doubted whether her game would ever translate to the pro level, and even picked apart her jumping.

But Crooks has never let any of it define her. Instead, she’s answered every comment the only way that matters with her play on the floor.

Crooks made a statement of her own when she chose Iowa State over Iowa, despite growing up a Hawkeyes fan, staying close to home while carving out her own journey. She wasn’t the most hyped recruit either, ranked No. 42 overall by Prep Girls Hoops and No. 57 by ESPN in the Class of 2023.

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But with every passing year, she’s grown stronger, shutting down the doubters one game at a time.

Crooks put up 19.2 points and 7.8 rebounds as a freshman, then raised the bar to 23.4 points and 7.5 boards in her sophomore year. But it’s her junior season as a Cyclone that has truly announced her arrival as a force to be reckoned with, as she’s now averaging a staggering 28.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Crooks has been money all season. In 10 of her 12 games, she’s scored 20 points or more, and she hasn’t had fewer than 18 in any game. And it’s not just this year. In 80 college games, the Algona, Iowa native has reached double figures in all but one, her very first game in 2023. That’s not all, though! She already has 51 games with 20-plus points, which is more than 60 percent of her career.

The junior currently leads the nation in scoring, just ahead of Florida’s Liv McGill and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo. And she’s doing it in only 26.1 minutes a game. On top of that, Crooks is also among the most efficient players in the country, shooting a ridiculous 71.6 percent from the field.

Now that Big 12 conference play has begun, one thing has become crystal clear after Iowa State’s season opener…

Audi Crooks & Iowa State Are Becoming a Real Problem for Big 12 Teams

Audi Crooks has never had a taste of a Big 12 regular-season title or a conference tournament crown as a Cyclone. But with the way she and her fellow cyclones are playing right now, all signs point to this finally being the year she gets there.

Heading into the Big 12 opener between Iowa State and Kansas, you’d expect Audi Crooks to see a crowd, two, maybe three Jayhawks glued to her the moment she even thought about touching the ball. That’s just what happens when you’re the name circled in red on every scout’s board.

But shorthanded Kansas, without Jaliya Davis and Regan Williams, looked at the nation’s top scorer and said, “We’ll take our chances.”

And the result was exactly what everyone feared. Pure Audi Crooks carnage. Kansas decided to go one-on-one, trusting Lilly Meister to handle the job. It backfired. Badly. Possession after possession, Crooks went right at her, piling up bucket after bucket on her way to scoring 41 of Iowa State’s 79 points, tying Lindsey Wilson for the most ever by a Cyclone in a regular-season Big 12 game.

It was Crooks’ third 40-point game of the season, making her the only player in the country with multiple nights like that. And it keeps getting crazier. She’s averaging more points than minutes played. Only one other player in college or pro basketball has done that this century. Joel Embiid with the 76ers in 2023-24.

If the Kansas win was the trailer, Iowa State’s Big 12 run is shaping up to be a full-blown blockbuster. After the holiday break, the Cyclones take on Houston next, and all signs point to Audi Crooks staying in full takeover mode. And that’s the real problem. You load up to stop Audi Crooks, and Iowa State makes you pay from deep, 8.4 threes a night at nearly 38 percent. So what’s the call? Let Crooks feast inside or get burned on the perimeter? Either way, it’s a nightmare every Big 12 team is walking into.

Ranked 10th in the country, Iowa State no longer looks like an underdog story. They’re starting to look like a real threat to TCU and anyone else standing in the way of the Big 12 title.

The one thing still missing for Crooks and these Cyclones is a team success on the biggest stage. In her freshman year, Iowa State pushed Stanford to overtime in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, only to come up short. A season later, it was another early exit, this time a first-round loss to Michigan. March Madness is the stage where this story still needs its big breakthrough.

With her dad’s name tattooed on her arm, Crooks carries him with her everywhere, and this season, she’ll be hoping to draw on that energy to lead Iowa State to a deep March Madness run.