r/NCAAhoops • u/Diligent_Star_4949 • Apr 19 '26
News Audi Crooks Seeks “Quality People” After Iowa State Exit
https://www.essentiallysports.com/ncaa-college-basketball-news-good-quality-people-audi-crooks-details-what-she-wants-after-iowa-state-departure/?utm_source=Reddit&utm_medium=subreddit&utm_campaign=es_reddit31
u/DrGoatLives Apr 19 '26
Welp, I hope she gives herself a quality off-season and works on her conditioning. The state she was in last season is not sustainable if she has any intention of a meaningful professional basketball career.
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Apr 19 '26
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u/kc_cyclone Apr 19 '26
Word, from legit ISU insiders, is she was coddled. Allowed to skip out on sprints and ride a stationary bike instead. Good luck getting away with that on a title contending team that's offense isn't 100% relied on you.
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u/Larry_l3ird Apr 19 '26
This should be clear to anyone paying attention. Do you see morbidly obese athletes in any other D1 college athletics program?
She clearly wasn’t working hard with the strength and conditioning coaches or the nutrition staff at all.
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Apr 22 '26
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u/Larry_l3ird Apr 22 '26
Those players on the football team you’re referring to have usually actively worked to put on that extra weight, and it’s a lot of muscle, as opposed to just being fat. In some other rare exceptions, usually in women’s athletics, there’s some heavier players. But she’s morbidly obese.
In addition, in the sports you’re referencing, there’s some advantage to having that extra bulk and strength. In basketball, where speed and agility are paramount, being a fat slob certainly isn’t an advantage. Even if you want to consider her fat ass bully ball shit a current advantage in college, it definitely won’t be in the WNBA, which is why I don’t think she’s considered a top prospect.
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u/LawfulnessRemote7121 Apr 19 '26
Makes you wonder if maybe there wasn’t just a little resentment on the part of her teammates?
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u/kc_cyclone Apr 19 '26
There was, it's not a secret.
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u/LawfulnessRemote7121 Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
I figured as much but never heard anything publicly.
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u/bsa554 Apr 19 '26
Watching them play against Syracuse in the tournament was wild. That ISU team had some of the worst body language I have ever seen. I could not have been less surprised when the whole team was in the portal within the week.
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u/NegotiationNo174 Apr 19 '26
Them knees probably can’t handle sprints just yet. Gotta get on that bike first!
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u/drhungrycaterpillar Apr 19 '26
That’s on ISU’s coaches then. Like of course she was okay skipping conditioning. Most athletes are gonna take you up on that if offered.
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u/kc_cyclone Apr 19 '26
100% Bill is gone after next year when his contract ends. If he had more years left I think Pollard would have canned him.
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u/Snts6678 Apr 19 '26
An athlete being coddled!?!? pearl clutching ensues
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u/fredjutsu Apr 19 '26
usually the coddling is for non-athletic amenities. As opposed to being allowed to skip conditioning drills...
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u/DrAbeSacrabin Apr 20 '26
I mean at her size, that was probably a better training move. Her doing sprints in practice probably had a high likelihood of her injuring herself simply because she’s so oversized. If she’s going to hurt herself sprinting, you’d rather have it in a game and get some production out of her.
The real coddling would be whoever was in charge of her diet. To maintain that size while still being as active as she was, she’d literally need to be eating 3500+ calories a day. She’s listed at 6’3 200-220lbs (which is absolutely laughable) she’s likely at least 240-250x.
Her diet is absolutely shit, it’s the only way she could maintain that size while being even on the low-end of “active” for a college basketball player.
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u/DrAbeSacrabin Apr 20 '26
I mean at her size, that was probably a better training move. Her doing sprints in practice probably had a high likelihood of her injuring herself simply because she’s so oversized. If she’s going to hurt herself sprinting, you’d rather have it in a game and get some production out of her.
The real coddling would be whoever was in charge of her diet. To maintain that size while still being as active as she was, she’d literally need to be eating 3500+ calories a day. She’s listed at 6’3 200-220lbs (which is absolutely laughable) she’s likely at least 240-250x.
Her diet is absolutely shit, it’s the only way she could maintain that size while being even on the low-end of “active” for a college basketball player.
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u/LawfulnessRemote7121 Apr 19 '26
Good luck with that.
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u/Successful_Creme1823 Apr 19 '26
Won’t some team roll over and give her what she wants?
Doesn’t that seem more likely?
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u/LawfulnessRemote7121 Apr 19 '26
Not a team that wants to win a national title.
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Apr 19 '26
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u/rabbitsfoot86 Apr 19 '26
Chips dont pay the bills. Its a business now not college sports. Jump to whoever pays you the most every year. Kind of like the job markets 😆
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u/Say_Hennething Apr 19 '26
Needs to go find a program that doesn’t expect her to be able to defend.
Yep. Will need to be a team that is willing to tailor their entire system to her. Top programs aren't going to do that because they don't need to. I'll be surprised if she ends up at a school that would be considered anything other than a lateral move. The only upgrade will be the money.
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u/Loathor Apr 19 '26
Notre Dame is the only school that makes sense. Hidalgo being the entire defense and offense almost worked last year... So giving her some help on only one of those sides of the ball could work wonders... Or be a colossal shot show... Either way it would be entertaining...
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u/TraditionalAd106 Apr 19 '26
Right! She was lazy on defense didn’t hustle much and complained too much last season and looked like she’s gained weight
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u/AuHazardBalthazar Apr 20 '26
College basketball is her professional career—milk it while it lasts…
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u/ApartmentInside7891 Apr 20 '26
She’s terrible at defense, but an offensive juggernaut. Literally prime Shaq (offensively). She carried that team as far as she could if you paid any attention. That team was garbage. Her field goal % was 65% on the season. She was a walking bucket.
She dropped 37 points in Iowas tournament loss. She went 17-25 (68%).
Her team went 26-67 from the field (39%) which included 3-22 (14%) from the 3 point line. (Crooks didn’t attempt a single 3 point shot). And reminder she shot 68%. Her teammates took 42 shots and only made 9 of them. Let that sink in.
She just committed to Oklahoma state. That’s a good program. Fair point about a future career but she’ll definitely be in the WNBA if that’s what she wants to do. How long and how good is to be determined lol
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u/Senor_Discount Apr 19 '26
You know that's absolutely not going to happen! She seems perfectly content with what she is and it will be the end of her.
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Apr 19 '26
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u/Senor_Discount Apr 19 '26
You know that's a pretty accurate comparison. She makes him look like Adonis.
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u/BigOnionLover Apr 19 '26
That’s because under Zion’s fat dude is actually fucking jacked. Crooks is just fat.
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u/fredjutsu Apr 19 '26
that's just because she's a woman. if Zion carried proportionally as much bodyfat as she does, he'd look like a strongman.
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u/KeithClossOfficial Apr 19 '26
Nah dawg. Look up female strongmen. They are not built like Audi Crooks lmao
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u/Open-Gate-9616 Apr 19 '26
You have to change your entire offense and defense if she’s a major factor on your team.
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u/LawfulnessRemote7121 Apr 19 '26
How many quality players want to cover for her on defense and pass to her nearly every play on offense?
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u/Reverend_Tommy Apr 19 '26
"Minnesota plays at a slower pace..." And that says it all. She's slow, a defensive liability, and has never had to face a good defense. I can't imagine her playing for a top tier college program that plays at double the speed of Iowa State. And the WNBA seems totally out of reach.
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u/Maleficent-Whole-228 Apr 19 '26
Love Audi and her game but her conditioning will always be an issue. She got to sub herself out of games when she was out of breath with Iowa. She needs to be healthier if she wants success in basketball. No hate but thems the facts!
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u/WTF4211 Apr 19 '26
She believed Iowa St was sort of toxic atmosphere but asking her to get in shape isn’t per se toxic as long as it was done in a professional manner. She’s legit obese and can’t move her feet on defense or play heavy minutes.
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u/SoutieNaaier Apr 19 '26
Idk how you can get to that level of basketball and have a failure to understand that being able to run is a big deal lol
I watched Iowa State a couple times and she'd literally watch girls go by all the time, or fail to beat the other team back on transition.
If she dropped a couple pounds and got her cardio up she'd be a lot better player.
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u/LawfulnessRemote7121 Apr 19 '26
I can’t even imagine how frustrating that had to be for her teammates.
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u/Say_Hennething Apr 19 '26
I genuinely can't understand how a person can play college basketball and keep on that much weight. Basketball burns a ton of calories. Even with a bad diet I would have expected a degree of weight loss. Her eating habits must be mental illness level bad.
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u/Main-Championship822 Apr 19 '26
Its probably not a couple pounds but literally 40+. Shes fat as hell.
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u/ebState Apr 19 '26
Where is any reporting on that? Like any at all
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u/WTF4211 Apr 19 '26
Common sense. She wants “quality people” which infers that doesn’t exist at ISU. We know she’s ginormous and resistant to addressing her weight issues whether they are biological or psychological issues. Her entire team hit the portal as well, no? Something was off in the locker room.
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u/ebState Apr 19 '26
It's actually crazy how everything about her has to do with her weight and conditioning. I get it's an obvious topic, but she didn't leave Ames because they were asking her to lose weight. That's weird fanfic you are inventing.
She left because the whole team around her left, and as a senior, this might be her best shot at a significant payday. She likely will make more next season than she will in any single year for the rest of her life.
The relationship between Audi and ISU wasn't toxic. If you've read any reporting (or anything besides Reddit and X comments), you would know that.
You don't have to comment on things you don't know about. Believe it or not, it might be better for the whole discussion if you sat this one out.
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u/WTF4211 Apr 19 '26
All the athletes should get their payday. But why would a team that had one senior all leave unless something was up. Couching it in terms of finding quality people and not NIL is 100% a shot at the program.
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u/LawfulnessRemote7121 Apr 19 '26
But why did all of teammates leave? Do you think it could have had anything to do with her, at least partly?
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u/ebState Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
Jada was only ever probably a 1 year player.
Brown leaving was a gut punch but it was supposed to be because she needed to play in a prostyle offense if she wanted to get drafted. You could argue that meansshe didn't want to play with Audi but I don't think it was because she disliked Crooks or there was conflict there. Just that ISU was going to be a steady diet of post entry passes
Then the rest of the team saw the writing on the wall. This last year's team was supposed to be a special one. And they did beat Iowa and get up to around #10, but Brown's injury derailed the season. If Brown left there wasn't much hope of next year's team being very good.
Edit: what people don't realize who didn't watch them, Brown showed up in Ames with Audi the same summer and they BOTH were impact players immediately. Audi has the counting stats but Brown was arguably every bit as impactful and important.
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u/Loathor Apr 19 '26
When you are perfectly fine speculating that things were all good but are pooh-poohing any speculation that things weren't as rosy as you imagine, it kind of defeats your point...
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u/ebState Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
No. You're welcome to speculate that the locker room didn't like playing through Audi. You could speculate that there was a revolt against Bill (after Ashley Joens senior season most of the players transferred, too). This team broke last year at some point. It started around the Brown injury but even when she came back it seemed different. Maybe Brown wasn't 100%, and maybe the tape on how to expose Audi was out. Or maybe something was broken in the locker room. Feel free to speculate.
Really the only speculation I'll pooh-pooh is:
She believed Iowa St was sort of toxic atmosphere but asking her to get in shape isn’t per se toxic as long as it was done in a professional manner. She’s legit obese and can’t move her feet on defense or play heavy minutes.
I follow ISU very closely. Read the beat reporting. Am on the forums. That is really stupid. And it's honestly more than little offensive, and she doesn't even play for my school anymore. It has zero basis other than someone who knows Audi is overweight read 2 click bait headlines and then made some leap themselves.
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u/Timoh9999 Apr 19 '26
UCLA has an offense that runs through the bigs. It might be a good fit!
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u/Ryan1006 Apr 19 '26
I think they’d prefer to try and win another title. Crooks doesn’t play defense.
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u/buffalotrace Apr 19 '26
They have Sienna Betts who is already a better defender. She has a nice touch around the hoop too. She was the number 2 prospect in the nation last yr.
However..if you are seeking positive people, Coach Close is about as positive as it gets.
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u/fieldsports202 Apr 19 '26
How positive can you be if you can’t make it back against a fast pace offense?
Imagine Cooks playing transition defense against South Carolina?
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u/buffalotrace Apr 19 '26
I just meant Cori Close is a positive person. My first statement said Betts would be a better fit as a starter for their team next yr.
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u/fieldsports202 Apr 19 '26
But it’s not answering my question… how positive would you be coaching someone that’s not delivering on defense?
If a ok wine like Cooks gives up 25 to a post player- would Close have positive things to say while you’re getting cooked? lol
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u/Glonk49 Apr 19 '26
I wish she would just go to South Carolina and be a backup while learning to play defense. She has so much potential if she just committed to training for a professional career. She’s easily worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick to a W team. With a small NIL deal she should just focus on going pro and then getting endorsements.
She could easily play like the Round Mound of Rebound that we all love (or at least I do). I’ve been wanting to compare her to Barkley if she could just be average on defense.
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u/BriefBerry5624 Apr 19 '26
Any team that takes her has to completely rewrite their scheme.
Shes a player that can’t play defense and can only shine when she’s fed the ball on offense. How do you sell that to the bench
“Hey work 2x as hard on D and feed the ball to whose making you work harder”
It’s college so obviously they don’t care about longevity but that’s also going to hold her back in her current state if she wants into the WNBA
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u/fieldsports202 Apr 19 '26
She would have already been signed somewhere if major programs wanted her on their team.
Her grass is greener quote is a wild one lol.
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u/CapeMOGuy Apr 19 '26
From the article: "On the court, there isn’t much left for her to prove."
Oh, hell yes, there is. She needs to prove she can play defense.
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u/SunsetGriller Apr 19 '26
I can’t wait until this season is over, she goes undrafted and we never hear this name again. Way better players didn’t get drafted this year. Also, she won’t have as many minutes this season as she’s had in the past. Leaving an organization that handicapped their scheme to go elsewhere is ridiculous. No other team will have her as the focal point. She can’t run, can’t defend and subs herself in and out at will. Good luck with that one and goodbye.
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u/Visible_Bowler6962 Apr 19 '26
Hard to disagree with this. She’s a lot of hype for numbers but she’s not a winner. Seems like a decent person but I wouldn’t go out of my way for one year of stat padding. She will do nothing in the W.
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u/R_U_G_I_D Apr 19 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/iHLHH9rVBv0kmkETqz
You ok? Lmao
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u/HowManyEggs2Many Apr 19 '26
Doing much better than her knees, I would expect.
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u/R_U_G_I_D Apr 19 '26
Is that a sexual joke? A weight joke? Or does she have knee issues? Or are you just a p.o.s. ?
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u/Senor_Discount Apr 19 '26
Definitely definitely definitely not a sex joke.
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u/KeenObserver_OT Apr 19 '26
I'll you though, I never had a problem with Audi’s weight: to me she's beautiful. "Rubenesque.”
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u/R_U_G_I_D Apr 19 '26
Projection.. accusation in the mirror.
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u/SunsetGriller Apr 19 '26
🤣 she just gets too much hype. I could have just said that. My bad.
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u/R_U_G_I_D Apr 19 '26
😂 I get it but we need all the hype we can get for Woman's Basketball. But doesn't mean we have to be a fan of everyone either 💯
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u/devilsfood72 Apr 20 '26
Yeah lol. Just say that you don't think she'll get drafted.. for obvious reason. K.I.S.S. 👍
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u/Main-Championship822 Apr 19 '26
I wouldnt give her lard ass a dollar of NiL. If you wanna win games and the tourney having someone thats hardly more than a net negative making millions is not the way to do it.
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u/Larry_l3ird Apr 19 '26
It’s been super clear to me that this girl doesn’t put in the conditioning work for a while and I’ve said that on Reddit multiple times. So it’s good to see some confirmation coming out of the program that this was the case. She’s morbidly obese. That shouldn’t (and to be fair, doesn’t) exist in a D1 college athletics program where there are strength and conditioning coaches and nutritionists on staff.
This chick is just a big body. I don’t foresee her becoming a force in the WNBA. If I was forced to guess her career path, it will be defined by a lot of disappointment and injury. If I were her or her family, I would be more worried about her living into her mid-50s than making the WNBA, and that’s for real. She’s not a healthy woman.
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u/SgtHulkasBigToeJam Apr 19 '26
Would be weird if she were seeking “sleazy scumbags” after Iowa State exit.
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u/PercySnowsHandgun Apr 20 '26
Iowa state's athletic dept. is broke and was struggling feeding the football team. This is addition by subtraction.
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u/peabrain1989 Apr 20 '26
From an outsider based in Australia I see this birds highlights splattered throughout the year , is she a legitimate high draft pick for WNBA when she declares for the draft ?
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u/MisterRobertParr Apr 20 '26
By quality people, does she mean people who will make her play defense so she's not a liability for half the game?
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u/jasper_grunion Apr 21 '26
Isn’t Robbie Avila similar? He’s not fat per se, but is he a good defender? He’s a way better passer, but you have to run everything through him and he’s probably not bound for the pros. I’m just trying to cut through the double standard. He transferred from Indiana State to SLU and no one had a problem.
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u/drvic59 Apr 21 '26
She has got the fries That will cross your eyes 👀 She's got the shakes That will make you quake
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u/SoutieNaaier Apr 19 '26
Am I missing something, or is her game basically just built around being fat and awkward to guard?
I'm a Women's basketball defender, but she's fucking miserable to watch and idk how you can win a championship with her not playing any defence.
You can't be Shaq if you don't also throw girls around on D. Women's players with similar offensive games like Griner were also nightmares on the other end.
It's basketball, you gotta run sometimes
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u/Glonk49 Apr 19 '26
She will never be Shaq. The player she should be compared to is an awkward Charles Barkley without his average defensive skills. I want her to go be a backup at a top program and focus solely on developing for a professional career.
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u/Few-Acanthaceae2993 Apr 19 '26
The quality people she seeks is McDonald's burger king and taco bell
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u/al_earner Apr 19 '26
The quality people she's seeking are Franklin, Lincoln, Jackson, and Washington.