Audi Crooks commits to Iowa State women’s basketball team

Audi Crooks has discovered her basketball house.

The state’s prime 2023 ladies basketball prospect formally dedicated to Iowa State Thursday in a ceremony at Bishop Garrigan Excessive Faculty, capping off a high-end recruitment that had faculties from all corners of the nation . Crooks selected the Cyclones out of a remaining 5 of Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The 6-foot-3 heart from Bishop Garrigan has been a coveted recruiting piece for fairly a while. Affords first rolled in in the course of the 2020 summer time and haven’t stopped since. By the point Crooks narrowed down a prime 5, she had piled up greater than 15 affords. Together with the colleges in her prime 5, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, UMKC, Missouri State, Maryland, Drake, Omaha, Michigan State, Kansas State, Mississippi State and Penn State all had been after Crooks.

Success on the AAU circuit with CY Choose paired properly with a dominant junior season that noticed Crooks personal foes throughout the state. In main Bishop Garrigan to a Class 1A title, Crooks averaged 23.5 factors, 12.5 rebounds and three.3 blocks per sport whereas capturing 72% from the sector. With Crooks on the controls, the Golden Bears completed 25-3 and secured this system’s first ladies basketball championship with a 52-49 win over MMCRU. Crooks had 15 factors and 13 rebounds within the title sport.

Her consistency this season earned Crooks an All-Iowa elite workforce choice, one in all many accolades which have come her approach. ESPN’s HoopGurlz slots Crooks because the No. 58 total prospect within the 2023 class. Prep Women Hoops has Crooks ranked forty second amongst all 2023 recruits.

“She has actually embraced this consideration and has dealt with it in a really humble trend, particularly the final six to 9 months,” CY Choose program director Ashley Adams advised the Register earlier this 12 months. “She’s been getting quite a lot of consideration for nearly two years now, however with social media and the web and all the pieces, it is actually heightened of late. Nevertheless it’s been enjoyable to type of be alongside her by this journey and see how she’s reacted and dealt with all the pieces.

“She’s actually taken it in stride and managed to step up and settle for that problem of continuous to push to be nice however on the identical time, remaining humble. She’s some of the humble youngsters I’ve ever met.”         

Dargan Southard covers Iowa and UNI athletics, recruiting and preps for the Des Moines Register, HawkCentral.com and the Iowa Metropolis Press-Citizen. Electronic mail him at msouthard@gannett.com or comply with him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.