Audi Crooks may have her flaws, but she still looks more than championship-ready for No. 10 Iowa State
Iowa State junior center Audi Crooks, who was only ranked the 57th best prospect in her high school class of 2023 by espnW, is transcending expectations yet again.
As a freshman at Iowa State, she quickly invited the attention of diehard hoops fans through interior dominance. Unfortunately, a flatlined performance against Stanford in the NCAA Tournament made many write off Crooks as a gimmick player with no versatility—far from someone who could one day lead a team that contends for a national championship.
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While Crooks took another step forward last season, Iowa State took a step back. The Cyclones lost in the first round of the tournament to Michigan. Crooks scored 28 in the Round of 64 loss to Michigan, which was still not enough to stop people from diagnosing her with “regular-season player” syndrome. The question has never been whether Crooks is a good player. Instead, fans and analysts rightfully have wondered whether her play style can be sustained over a tournament run, and if it can translate to the WNBA.
Iowa State’s offense blossoms from the branches of Crooks’ scoring. Opponents must choose a path: Leave perimeter shooters open and send help to Crooks, or stay tight on the 3-point line and let Crooks isolate on inferior post defenders. Most teams elect for the former, which is one of the reasons that Iowa State ranks 13th in the country in 3-point percentage (38.2 percent). Kansas recently tried the latter, and gave up 41 points to Crooks in a loss.
The Cyclones offense embodies a rock and a hard place. That’s a good thing!
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However, imagine being stuck between a rock and a hard place, but the rock is having a bad game. The rock is shooting 3-for-20. The rock looks more like a pebble this game. When you step over that pebble, it becomes a little harder (or, impossible) for the hard place to trap you. That’s been the modus operandi for Crooks and her production. When she has a great game, Iowa State is invincible. When she has a bad game, they’re powerless.
It can be reasoned that this is the case with all great players, but that isn’t entirely true.
While Crooks is an elite scorer, her frame and lack of three-dimensionality come back to bite her when the offensive engine isn’t clicking. She’s slow-footed on defense and can’t guard switches, nor can she keep up with mobile forwards. She is at risk of being beaten down the floor in transition if she misses a post finish. She’s actually a below-average rebounder for her size and usage. She’s not a threat to stretch the floor. Pointing out Crooks’ coarse edges isn’t to say that she’s not a phenomenal player. Instead, it’s a recognition her limited ability to impact winning while having a bad game. If she isn’t scoring, her impact on the game is often negative.
Without a drastic change in Crooks’ method, overcoming the looming threat of an off night isn’t possible. Crooks thrives because of who she is and how she plays, but she also pays the price for it when her shot isn’t falling. The steep, anxious mountain that Crooks has to climb to advance far in the NCAA Tournament, and even win a national champion, is one of invincibility. She cannot have a bad game. She cannot be a non-factor.
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As we’ve turned the calendar into conference play, somehow, Crooks is summiting.
In her third collegiate season, Crooks is scoring the basketball to such an extent that maybe she could just carry the Cyclones to a championship. She isn’t just a niche pull in “ball-knower” conversations anymore. She’s encroaching on household-name status.
Crooks leads the country in scoring at 29.4 points per game. Even more remarkable, she’s second in the country in field goal percentage at 72.5 percent. Never before has there been such an intersection of volume and efficiency. It wouldn’t be crazy at all to say that Crooks is having one of the greatest scoring seasons in women’s basketball history. The gap in efficiency rating between Crooks and the second-highest player, UConn’s Sarah Strong, is greater than the gap between Strong and the 10th most efficient player.
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Iowa State is shooting 38 percent from 3 (13th in the country) and 60 percent on 2-pointers (first in the country). They’re the sixth highest-scoring offense in college basketball, and a 14-0 record has them at No. 10 in the most recent AP Poll.
Maybe the question shouldn’t be, “Can Iowa State overcome a bad Audi Crooks game?” Maybe the key to Iowa State’s success comes from Crooks’ “bad” being no longer being “bad.”. She’s not going to score 30 points every game (although sometimes it feels like it), but if a “bad” Audi Crooks game can look like 14 points, rather than four, the Cyclones can get somewhere.
For the first time in her career, Crooks’ dominance is at such a level that it feels sustainable. It feels consistent. Summiting her mountain, Crooks can now afford to fall from her peak on occasion. She just can’t find herself at base camp.
