Audi Crooks is ready to run it back.
After averaging an impressive 23.4 points and 7.5 boards this season, the 6-3 center has announced that she’s returning to Iowa State for her junior season. The SLAMU cover star made it official with her own Instagram post, which poked fun at any speculation that she’d be taking her talents elsewhere.
Crooks is one of the most dominant bigs in college basketball and has been capturing the world’s attention with her style of play in the paint, which she’s perfected since arriving in Ames.
“I chose Iowa State because it made me feel cared for as a person, not just for what I do on a basketball court,” Crooks told us for the digital cover of SLAMU (which is now her profile pic on IG, we see you AC!).
During the recruiting process, head coach Bill Fennelly and his coaching staff made Crooks feel comfortable and welcome from the very beginning, a sentiment that hasn’t changed since she’s suited up in the red and gold. “He’s going to be tough on you,” Crooks said of Fennelly. “But at the end of the day, you know that he loves you and that he supports you.”
“I think a part of my game that I like to elevate is not necessarily going to show up on the stat board,” she says. “I’d like to be a better communicator. I’d like to be a better leader and just more consistent overall, whether that be in the paint, at the mid-range, setting screens, whatever it is, even on the defensive end,” Crooks said.
Cyclone fans, your fav is back. Celebrate Audi’s return with our Iowa State Collection