NCAA’s week ended on December 21st, and with it came the usual Player of the Week announcement. 

Many organizations released their ‘Player of the Week’ post, but one name was common amongst all: Audi Crooks. The Iowa State Cyclones center is the National Player of the Week for the Associated Press (AP), NCAA Women’s Basketball, and USWBA (U.S. Basketball Writers Association). 

The honor comes on the back of a 41-point performance, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, making this her first 40+ point performance of the season. Her contributions led to a 79-76 victory over Kansas.

"It’s absolute heaven. It’s heaven. It’s a post player’s dream. If you want to double me, you’re going to leave a really, really talented player on the 3-point line. I don’t know if that’s a risk that I would take."

This comes as no surprise, as Crooks is the leading point scorer in the conference and the NCAA D-I with an average of 28.9 PPG and 347 points in 12 games played so far. 

But this isn't Crooks' first time doing that. She also led the Big 12 in 2024-25 with an average of 23.5 points per game.

And Coach Bill Fennelly thinks Audi Crooks could have scored even more

After their last game, Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly thought Audi Crooks could have reached 50 points. "It looked like a middle-school game. I said, ‘You better get ready.’"

And all of it came down to how Kansas planned against Crooks. "They didn’t double-team her one time tonight. So every time we think we’re going to figure out something, something else happens."

It's why Crooks could have gone even higher on the scoreboard. "She should have had 50. I mean, she had 27 layups and to her credit, she got it going in the second half. And our kids kept throwing her the ball."

Do you think Audi Crooks will keep this momentum going? Let us know in the comments!

Written by

Fatema Kapasi

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar