Iowa State's "Velvet Unicorns" Smash Final Four "Velvet Hammer" in Thrilling Victory!

Audi Crooks averages more than 25 points a game this season. Photograph: Peter G Aiken/Getty Images The basketball gods really have a thing for Iowa. First came Caitlin Clark at the University of Iowa, a scoring sensation who dominated headlines and sparked cultural debates.

Now, the state’s other major college program, Iowa State, has been blessed with Audi Crooks – a thunderclap in her own right. Where Clark dazzled the masses with moon ball shots and moxie off the dribble, Crooks is the kind of talent that makes other players of stature sit up and take notice, the junior center with a feel beyond her years. A 6ft 3in ballast in the paint, Crooks belongs to a protected class of hooper, the velveteen giant – post players who win with touch as much as brute force.

Related: Three years and 89 games unbeaten: how NYU became basketball’s unlikeliest dynasty In the early 2000s, Troy Jackson – a 6ft 10in, 375lb streetball legend who played under the stage name “Escalade” – lit up And1 Mixtape crowds with his buttery shoulder rolls and no-look passes. Two years ago, 6ft 9in, 275lb DJ Burns Jr was the darling of the NCAA men’s tournament , his throwback, back-to-the-basket game carrying North Carolina State to their first Final Four since 1983. In fact, his greatest admirer was none other than the once roly-poly Nikola Jokić – the big man head and shoulders above the rest.

But the women’s game has never seen a figure quite like Crooks, a bulldozing ballerina fans have taken to calling “Baby Shaq”. The diesel that drives the Cyclones, Crooks averages more than 25 points a game while making two-thirds of her shots from the field – efficiency that makes her virtually impossible to guard. Front her on the low block, and she’ll catch and finish.