Minnetonka girls basketball star Crump picks Texas for college
Minnetonka's Aaliyah Crump, the state's top senior prospect, ended the intrigue about where she would play college basketball next season with a commitment Monday to the Texas Longhorns.
The 6-1 Crump, a five-star guard ranked No. 4 nationally by ESPN in the 2025 class, picked Texas over Duke and Ohio State. The Gophers were not among her three finalists.
"She's way up there skill-wise," Minnetonka coach Brian Cosgriff said. "I think her ability to work hard and her dedication definitely makes her one of the best I've coached. Her best basketball is ahead of her."
Last season, the Skippers finished 29-2 after defeating Hopkins 64-56 in the Class 4A championship game at Williams Arena. Crump, a former teammate of Gophers incoming freshman Tori McKinney, led the Skippers with 23 points.
Crump averaged 24.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game to earn All-Metro first-team honors as a junior. Her exposure outside the state of Minnesota has grown even more in the past year.
Last summer, Crump won a gold medal with Team USA's U16 national team in the 2023 FIBA Americas Championship. In December, she also signed the first name, image and likeness (NIL) national deal for a high school athlete with New Balance's Klutch Athletics, a sportswear brand founded by top agent Rich Paul.
Crump's basketball exploits continued this spring and summer as a top performer in the Nike 17U circuit with All Iowa Attack, basketball icon Caitlin Clark's former AAU team.
Of the returning players on the Star Tribune's All-Metro teams, Crump becomes the third player to make a college decision. She joined Maple Grove guard Jordan Ode (Michigan State) and Eden Prairie guard Tori Schlagel (South Dakota).
Cosgriff, who coached UConn All-America Paige Bueckers at Hopkins, said he expects to see Crump playing with Bueckers in the WNBA one day. Crump is the highest-ranked high school senior from Minnesota since Bueckers was No. 1 in the Class of 2020.
"She has tremendous upside," he added. "I think Texas is getting a great player with Aaliyah, who is only scratching the surface of her potential. She's so much more than a great basketball player, too. She's a great person."
