Friday night, Iowa State‘s Audi Crooks scored 40 points, leading Iowa State to a comeback 93-86 win over Maryland in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. While it helped that Maryland’s level came down after a blistering first quarter, Maryland couldn’t stop Crooks.
At first glance, Crooks doesn’t appear to athletic other than her height, but her footwork and rebounding under the basket is excellent. She’s not the fastest down the court, but she’s unmovable once she gets positioned on the low post. She often makes good decisions when she’s double-teamed. Very impressive.
As an Iowa Hawkeyes fan, spoiled by four years of Caitlin Clark exploits, I’m scared. Iowa State was an unknown after losing their many celebrated seniors, and this year’s freshmen have proven to be up for the task. Iowa loses five seniors, including Clark, and obviously expect a down year: hopefully just a meh, middle-of-the-road 20-win season, but could be worse if the roster doesn’t mesh quickly.
In the meantime, the pendulum is starting to swing in the Hawkeye State.
