A crowd of more than 10,000 fans crowded Hilton Coliseum last month when the Iowa State Cyclones played the Kansas State Wildcats. With fewer than six minutes left in the game, No. 55, Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, caught the ball from her teammate, pushed back and swiveled around for a layup.
With the basket, the crowd erupted in cheers.
Iowa State University fan Missy Sanow said that type of move is what fans have come to expect.
“It’s just electric," Sanow said. "When she gets the ball, it’s just electric. Everybody looks to Audi to do great things, and she does great things."
As a college athlete, Crooks plunged into the national spotlight in 2024 when she scored 40 points in her NCAA tournament debut against Maryland. Now, as a junior, she’s averaging 25.5 points per game and is one of the leading scorers in the country.
Joe Bartolo, one of Crooks’ high school coaches at Bishop Garrigan in Algona, said in a time when 3-pointers are seen as a flashier part of the game, Crooks shows there’s another way to play.
“She kind of brings that old school, low post, tough mentality that you can still beat people by scoring 2s and attract a lot of attention to open things up for your guards,” he said.
In her freshman year at ISU, Crooks had the best field goal percentage for an NCAA Division I freshman in the 2023-24 season.
Earlier this season, Crooks was averaging more than a point per minute. With more than 700 points this season, Crooks’ scoring streak continues. ISU women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly said on top of good footwork, timing and an ability to catch anything, it’s her physicality and ability to play among a lot of bodies that sets her apart.
“Number one, her physical presence, her ability to handle the contact in our game,“ Fennelly said. “It is a physical game, but it's kind of become more 'game played in space.'”
Fennelly said the modern basketball world lacks a lot of “true” centers like Crooks, who play in the low post with their back to the basket. Her traditional playing style has forced the team to play more old school techniques, like “feeding the post” — or passing the ball to players close to the basket — or trying out new plays to pull defensive players away from her.
At times, Crooks can have up to three players guarding her.
“Unlike any player I've ever coached, people change how they defend her, and lot of times they change two or three times within the game. It's not just, ‘Hey, here's the plan,’” Fennelly said. “Everyone's got to be ready to adjust. We talk a lot here about 'adjust, adapt and overcome,' and certainly that goes into our game plan with Audi.”
Crooks stands 6 foot 3, which has landed her the nickname “Lady Shaq,” like former NBA star center Shaquille O’Neal. And like Shaq, she’s dominant in the paint — the area near the basket.
In high school, Crooks received criticism about her body on social media. In college, the criticism hasn’t slowed.
In an appearance on the YouTube channel ChampionThis, she recalled first seeing comments online when ESPN posted about her as a high school player.
"Every time a women’s basketball player gets posted, it's either she’s not as good as a man or she looks weird, she does this differently," Crooks said. "It becomes a beauty competition. It’s like, no I’m not here to look good. I’m here to hoop."
Crooks also called the negative comments “part of the process.”
“Once you are on that public platform, it's great when things are going well, but the second that goes bad or it doesn't go your way, be prepared for that comment section to turn on you, and for you to get some DMs,” she said.
Fennelly said Crooks has been able to deflect the negative attention and serve as a role model for younger players. She gets more mail than anyone else on the team, he said, and Fennelly receives an email almost every day from a parent saying how Crooks’ example has encouraged their kids.
“When I’m going out as a team to dinner, little girls will stop me and ask me for pictures,“ said Crooks on the Big 12 Conference YouTube Channel. “I don't take that for granted, and I just make sure that I want to use my platform in the correct way and just be a leader, be a role model for those people. It means a lot to me.”
In January, the TV ratings company Nielsen reported the Iowa State women’s basketball team was the most watched college team in the country. Fennelly credits the attention to Crooks.
“Audi has gotten a lot of attention, way beyond people that normally, you would say, are not women's basketball fans," he said. “They're Audi Crooks fans, which translates to women's basketball, which translates to Iowa State.”
Off the court, Crooks’ bubbly personality comes through when she interacts with fans — something her high school basketball coach said has stuck out about her since she was a kid.
“She was always one of them kids that had a smile on her face, was always laughing, was always dancing or singing or whatever,” Bartolo said. “I would say she's always had that great sense for life and making people better.”
As a high school basketball player, Bartolo said Crooks persuaded her coaches to wear “fun” shoes instead of black dress shoes at games. And before games, Crooks could be found dancing and hyping up her team with upbeat music.
Fans on social media have seen Crooks’ love for music come through, as she sings and plays piano alongside her teammates. In a TikTok from the Big 12 Conference Media Day, Crooks sings “Stand by Me” and “Dancing on My Own” while playing the piano.
@marchmadnesswbb Audi Crooks showing out on the keys 🎹👏 @Audi #NCAAWBB #piano #wbb #mediaday x 🎥 @Big 12 Conference , @CycloneWBB ♬ original sound - NCAA March Madness
Crooks’ ISU athletic profile states she can play five instruments, including piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums and trumpet. In high school, she participated in band and choir. Bartolo said her musical side helps her on the court.
“She had the rhythm and the footwork,” he said. “I think, obviously, having musical talent, you've got to have some of those abilities, whether you're singing or playing music.”
Katherine Weimers, Crooks’ band teacher in middle and high school, said Crooks played trumpet in band but picked the other instruments on her own. During her free time at school, Crooks could often be found in the band room playing around on the drums, or in the choir room singing and playing piano.
At a school as small as Bishop Garrigan, it's common for students to be involved in multiple activities. Now, many younger kids want to specifically follow in Crooks’ footsteps.
“Lots of girls want to be awesome basketball players,” Weimers said. “I've been asked a couple times, 'What did she play?' And then, 'We want to play the same thing.' So I have a couple of them that want to be exactly the same thing as [Crooks] in that.”
Like Crooks, ISU freshman Abby Stratton plays trumpet and grew up playing the center position. She’s part of the women’s traveling pep band, and when she tells people that, they are quick to ask about Crooks.
"It's so exciting to go home to my hometown and hear people like, ‘Oh, you play for the women's team? Like, that's Audi Crooks, right?’" Stratton said. "People that don't know women's basketball at all, they know Audi Crooks, and that is so exciting to see this in my lifetime happen."
Standing 6 foot 2, Stratton grew up playing basketball in her driveway with her mom, who showed her how to move other players using her hips and shoulders — something she didn’t get to see other players replicate often. Now, she said she watches Crooks play exactly how her mom taught her.
“As an ex-bigger athlete, it's really amazing to see people that look like you and built like you, playing DI basketball, making headlines, breaking records,” Stratton said.
Stratton calls Crooks a role model and said Crooks’ philanthropic work sets her apart.
Last year, Crooks started The Audi Crooks Foundation, which helps pay for sports fees, instrument rentals, school lunch bills and other costs for students. Last fall, when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were paused during the federal government shutdown, Crooks’ organization delivered care packages to families in her home county.
Fennelly said years from now, when he's retired, he'll remember the little kids wanting to take photos with Crooks, her walking off the court to play drums in the stands and “Audi being Audi.”
“The basketball stuff comes and goes, but the stuff that she's done to impact our community, our state, our program, those are the things I think people remember way, way beyond anything she did as a basketball player," he said.
Crooks still has one more year to play at ISU, but for many fans and her coaches, her legacy will continue beyond when she walks off the court for the last time.
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Audi Crooks was unavailable for an interview with IPR News for this story.
