Iowa State center Audi Crooks exceeds her goals as a freshman All-American

Welcome to “On the Break” — During the WNBA’s Olympic break, Andscape will publish a weekly Q&A with some of the biggest names in women’s college basketball.

Prior to the start of her freshman season at Iowa State, Cyclones center Audi Crooks wrote down a trio of goals she hoped to achieve by year’s end.

Crooks, who is 6-feet-3, entered the Iowa State program as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 57 overall recruit in the Class of 2023 by ESPN. Despite that, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to make an impact as a freshman. Of the goals she set for herself, becoming a starter was the most lofty.

By season’s end, though, Crooks delivered the best season by an Iowa State freshman in program history. She broke the school record for field goals in a season, posted a single-season freshman record by scoring 512 points and was a unanimous selection for First Team All-Big 12. Crooks earned AP All-America Honorable Mention honors, which also was a first for an Iowa State freshman.

“Last year was a learning experience for me,” Crooks said. “Coming in, I didn’t even know if I was even going to play, let alone start, let alone play 30-plus whatever significant minutes. It was a really big year.”

Crooks was catapulted onto the national scene during her NCAA tournament debut in March when she scored 40 points in a come-from-behind victory over Maryland in the opening round. She was the second player in NCAA tournament history to score 40 points on at least 90% shooting.

“March Madness was probably my favorite part of [my freshman season], super-rewarding,” Crooks said. Her 40-point total tied for the second-most points scored in an NCAA women’s tournament debut. “To watch that as a kid and then be a part of that, that transition was crazy and it was a lot of fun.”

Crooks spoke to Andscape about exceeding her expectations as a standout freshman for Iowa State, the origins of her passion for music and why she’s demanding more of herself in her upcoming sophomore season.

Hey, Audi. How has your summer been?

Good! So far it’s just been hanging out with the new people and getting our transfers in and seeing how we blend as a group kind of rolling the ball out for the first time and seeing how we mesh. That’s probably been the highlight.

What’s been your impression of the transfers that have joined the program?

The transfers that have come in, they’re all really good shooters, which is going to help us out a lot, especially if we try to play that inside-outside game again this year and have a little bit more consistency beyond the arc. I think it’s going to be great.

After the end of your freshman season, what were your priorities this offseason? What did you want to accomplish this summer?

One of my goals was to expand my range a little bit, be more comfortable and have my teammates trust me a little bit more in that midrange and even on that trail 3. From a strength and conditioning aspect, just toning up. Last year, I didn’t know what to expect. Now I know what the game demands as far as physicality and competition go. I’m fine-tuning those things as well.

How’s your progress on those goals?

Really well. Been focusing a lot on the strength piece, been in the weight room a ton. I’ve been working individually a lot. If that’s going to the gym and getting shots up at 9 p.m., so be it as long as I continue to work and expand that range.

Have you always been that kind of player with that high individual work ethic?

For sure. It’s easy for me to not go and put that work in individually because we have three workouts a day, we are in online school and time is of the essence here. It’s hard to find an hour or a half hour to allow yourself to go work out and put in work instead. A lot of people choose to nap and I don’t blame them. Rest when you can, because it gets hard out here. I’ve always emphasized putting in work as an individual.

From going into your freshman year not knowing what to expect, to ending your freshman year as an honorable mention All-American — how does your mindset change going into Year 2?

I say the expectations for myself. Last year, going into it, I gave myself a little grace. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what to expect. Now I know what to expect and I know that I can perform, and perform efficiently. I expect that out of myself and try to demand that out of myself every day and just be consistent overall.

Do you enjoy the challenge of meeting expectations?

I do. I really really do. Before my freshman season there were people that thought I wouldn’t even make it on the floor, let alone start or score a significant amount of points in a March Madness tournament. Other people’s expectations truly don’t bother me. I honestly don’t pay a whole lot of attention to them. It’s more about the expectations of the inner circle and more what I want to achieve.

Before your freshman year you wrote down goals of wanting to play, start, and be efficient. Have you written those goals for your sophomore year? 

Not yet. That’s when we come back from summer break and get into preseason. That’s when I’ll do that.

When you’re not playing basketball this summer, what are some of the activities we could find you doing?

Hanging out with my teammates. We go out fishing a lot as a group. We’ve gone bowling, laser tag. I love music so I’m probably in my room listening to music or playing guitar. We go to church together as well, quite a few of us do on Sundays. Most of the time I’m doing stuff with other teammates but if I’m by myself it’s probably something musical or just relaxing.

How long have you been fishing?

Oh, God. (Laughs.) That was just something I would always do with my grandpa for fun when I was younger. Learning that some of the girls here, especially those that come from the country, they also liked fishing. Girls who have never fished before were fishing together. Just having a new experience, a shared experience, helped our team this summer connect well.

Do you have a favorite catch?

Oh, goodness, I couldn’t tell you, I really couldn’t tell you. I don’t keep track, I just catch them and then release.

For folks that followed you over the course of your freshman season, they saw a kind of steady building of excitement around you and your game. Then it just exploded in the tournament against Maryland after your incredible 40-point game. Was any part of that attention you received after hard to handle?

When I was younger, maybe a freshman or sophomore in high school, I got posted on ESPN and that was my first true experience with [that kind of exposure]. After that game, hearing that LeBron mentioned me or Aliyah Boston tweeted at me, that was still super-shocking – but I feel like I somewhat experienced that before. It was cool to be back there and it was nice to know people are watching and appreciating your game and what our team is doing. It definitely picked up, though – the attention, the spotlight. It’s a lot to handle, but I had been there before, so I kind of knew how to handle it.

You have the 40-point game against Maryland, but I’m wondering if perhaps you learned more from the following loss against Stanford and just potentially what improvements you’d look to make in the offseason.

For sure. I think we needed to clean up some things as a collective and me individually on defense. That’s also been a point of emphasis this season for me, working on defense, post defense, all of those things. Finishing around the rim with a tall defender – I don’t think I had ever gone against somebody that tall or that lanky before [Stanford Cardinal forward Cameron Brink]. That was a big learning experience for our entire team. Then just being effective offensively even when I’m not scoring the ball, just finding ways to be productive without having the ball.

What was the toughest part of your freshman year?

I think the hardest part was adjusting to the physicality and pace of the game. Every level it just gets harder and harder. Throwing me in there, I had no clue. True freshman, small town and very little Division I-type experience. That was probably the biggest, just getting in shape and being able to hang out in the post, getting stronger, more effective, more efficient. They’re not going to call every single foul when there is a triple team. They don’t care if I get hit. So it was about really getting past that.

You hear that a lot with stronger frontcourt players who can absorb contact in the paint. Has that been your experience at every level?

For sure. I come from a super-small town. A 1A school. I graduated with, like, 37 people. They didn’t care if I got fouled because I was 6-foot-4 and the girl guarding me was 5-foot-8. They don’t care, they could get away with murder, but if I looked at somebody it was a foul. So that’s something that I was used to, but I think the physicality of this league is also an advantage, so now I can use that without being punished for it.

In the spirit of the Olympics, I know you were excellent at shot put in high school. Curious if there was ever an interest in pursuing track and field instead of basketball.

I actually talked briefly with the throwing coach here at Iowa State and I’ve had some other colleges reach out and be interested, but I knew I wanted to play ball. I knew it would probably be way too difficult to do both. Throwing is kind of like powerlifting. It’s heavy weights and it’s fun and I love it but it’s not going to be super-effective for me on the court. I just had to kind of choose.

What’s the most transferable aspect of throwing to basketball?

The strength training, for sure. You get much bigger when you’re squatting 400 pounds. It’s just a whole ’nother level. I think doing that year-round would be detrimental to my basketball stuff but it helped me become more powerful for sure – more explosive – because that’s super-important in throwing as well.

I read that you play five instruments. You’ve mentioned your passion for music earlier – where does that stem from?

That stems from my father. When I was younger, we would always go to church together and after church we would stick around — he played piano and sang — so we would just mess around on the instruments. I was 6 years old beating on a drum, no clue in the world what I’m doing, but growing up around that kind of inspired me to pick that up. He taught me a lot of things about music and that’s just kind of how we bonded. I just try to carry that out.

Does that mean you grew up on a lot of gospel music?

Mhm, yes, sir.

Favorite gospel artists growing up?

Tasha Cobbs for sure. Kirk Franklin. Those are my main two. They’ve been the biggest inspirations for me.

What’s your song of the summer?

The entire Tems album. I love Tems.

I saw in an Instagram post you asked your followers to name their favorite karaoke song, so now I have to ask you what yours is.

Any song by Whitney Houston.

That’s a tall task!

That is a tall task! But I love Whitney.

First song of hers that comes to mind?

“Greatest Love of All.”

What would your walkout song be?

“Levels” by BigXthaPlug.

Who is a player in the WNBA whose game you admire?

I really admire Breanna Stewart. She’s just so versatile. She’s the female Kevin Durant, just insane. A’ja Wilson of course. Aliyah Boston, love her as well. Those three are my main three. I kind of [mold] my game after them.

What can ISU accomplish in 2024-25?

I couldn’t tell you, there’s absolutely no ceiling. I don’t think there’s a limit to what we can do. I think if we all put our best foot forward and continue to bond and mesh on the floor like we’re doing, I think we’re going to be really dangerous. Truly.