The Iowa State Cyclones' basketball season ended in defeat at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA Tournament, but not before the Cyclones endeared themselves to the college basketball world with the the incredible play of rising star Audi Crooks and her teammates. 

The Cyclones' success became a challenge to replicate for next season considering that Crooks has become a runaway fan favorite in the world of college basketball and Iowa State isn't typically considered to be a blue blood program.

On Tuesday, the Cyclones star's decision to return to Ames, Iowa was revealed by the program's NIL director Brent Blum, aka the executive director of the program's NIL Collective for coach Bill Fennelly's team. 

Blum revealed that other programs made high offers to Crooks during the offseason, but the Cyclones were able to get "close enough" to swing the pendulum in favor of a return for 2025. 

"Rest assured, they got some offers that we definitely probably can't match, but because of our fan base and the folks supportive of the collective and then Iowa State as a whole, we were able to get close enough," the NIL expert said. 

Familiarity, fit and contentment are among the reasons why Crooks and her high profile teammate Addy Brown decided to stick around for another run.

"I knew they were happy here," Fennelly said. "I knew they feel comfortable here. I know that they know that they're a huge part of what this program is about and I also know their success could not be duplicated somewhere else like it is here."