announced her intentions to leave Iowa State<\/a> and play her last season of college basketball elsewhere. Crooks is eligible to enter the WNBA Draft early but is committed to playing one more college season.<\/p>\nCrooks is one of the most unique players in the country, a back-to-the-basket center who posted up on 70 percent of her offensive possessions. She was the second-leading scorer in the country this season, averaging 25.8 points on 64.9 percent shooting, also the second-highest mark. But her skillset demands that the offense be built around her \u2014 for good reason, as the Cyclones ranked in the 98th percentile of offensive rating in 2025-26 \u2014 and she has significant defensive limitations. Iowa State didn\u2019t make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in any of her three seasons.<\/p>\n
The talent is undeniable, if a new team can figure out how to harness Crooks\u2019 skills in a different situation. Here are some options for Crooks\u2019 new landing spot.<\/p>\n
Texas<\/p>\n
If any team could cover for Crooks defensively, it is the Longhorns. That roster is oozing with length and athleticism at every other position, and with Kyla Oldacre graduating, Texas could use some reinforcements at center. The Longhorns also prioritize scoring in the paint, which is where Crooks makes her bread and butter.<\/p>\n
There are some pretty substantial stylistic concerns. Crooks does well when surrounded by 3-point shooting, and even though Texas has capable shooters, it doesn\u2019t attempt many 3s. Vic Schaefer demands much defensively, and Crooks probably doesn\u2019t meet the Texas standard, even after an offseason in the system. But if the Longhorns don\u2019t win the national title and need an offensive boost to take the next step, Crooks could be a creative fit if both sides are willing to compromise. Crooks would have to play fewer minutes and expend more energy defensively (luckily, Breya Cunningham is still around), and Texas could modify its spacing to amplify her strengths.<\/p>\n
Arizona State<\/p>\n
This is an opportunity to remain in the Big 12 conference with a program on the rise, led by a good young coach, Molly Miller. The Sun Devils didn\u2019t have enough offensive firepower to compete with the better teams in their league, ranking in the 53rd percentile in offensive rating, and it would be an easy adjustment for Crooks to play against the same competition in her senior season. Miller was flexible with her defensive schemes in her first season at Arizona State and could find a way to hide Crooks\u2019 weaknesses. The Sun Devils aren\u2019t ready to compete for a national title in 2026-27, but with Crooks, Ruby Whitehorn and a good portal class, this could be among the Big 12\u2019s best teams.<\/p>\n
Minnesota<\/p>\n
Keep Crooks in the Midwest with a team that needs some size, especially with Sophie Hart graduating. Minnesota plays at a glacially slow pace and would greatly benefit from a post-up presence in its offensive system. The Golden Gophers have good and willing 3-point shooters in Grace Grocholski, Tori McKinney and Mara Braun to spread the floor for Crooks. Minnesota was good enough to host the first two rounds of the tournament this season and could move into top-10 contention with Crooks on the roster. This would also be a great landing spot for Addy Brown to join Crooks if the Iowa State teammates want to remain together.<\/p>\n
North Carolina<\/p>\n
Another team that plays pretty slow and doesn\u2019t have much of an interior presence, allowing Crooks to slot in cleanly. Elina Aarnisalo is a quality point guard who can get the ball to Crooks, and Cierra Toomey likes to shoot from distance (even if her shotput form didn\u2019t lend itself to great results in 2025-26). It\u2019s hard to imagine Crooks going this far from home \u2014 and frankly, playing in blue \u2014 but the Tar Heels have a style of play that makes sense for her. Plus, like Minnesota, North Carolina was a hosting team this season and close to being a true contender in the ACC.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame<\/p>\n
The idea of pairing Hannah Hidalgo and Crooks is too much fun. They couldn\u2019t be more different \u2014 a tiny, jitterbug guard who never stops moving and a methodical big \u2014 but they\u2019re multi-time All-Americans who need some help. It\u2019s probably unrealistic to put Crooks in a system that is so transition and pick-and-roll-heavy; for context, Crooks was in 17 pick-and-roll possessions all season, per Synergy. But let\u2019s put two of the more enjoyable players in the country together and see what mad science experiment ensues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audi Crooks is going portaling. The transfer portal doesn\u2019t officially open until April 6, the day after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,7368,6,12,6135],"class_list":{"0":"post-694782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-iowa-state-cyclones","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-draft","12":"tag-womens-college-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}