Stanford Basketball Star Named to Wooden Award Watchlist

Stanford's Maxime Raynaud is in contention for some top-of-the-line recognition in college basketball. On Tuesday, it was announced that the Stanford star was one of the select few to be named to the John R. Wooden Award late midseason Top-20 list.

The award, which is arguably the most prestigious in all of college basketball as it is awarded to the most outstanding men's and women's player, is the ultimate award for any player, putting themselves in the category of being the most elite in the nation.

Raynaud, along with Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, are the only two ACC players named to the list. Created in 1976, the winner is selected by a panel of college basketball experts from all around the country.

This is the third watchlist/nomination that Raynaud has been named to this season, also being named a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year top-10 nominee and to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Watchlist as well.

All of those nominations are rightfully earned, as he currently leads the ACC in scoring (20.4 ppg) and rebounding (11.7 ppg) and through Feb. 10, he is third in the nation in rebounding and 11th in scoring.

Raynaud's scoring average could go down in the Stanford history books, and is currently on pace to be a top-10 season in program history. Also with 20 double-doubles so far, Raynaud is three ahead of the second-ranked player in the nation in that category while being six ahead of any Power Four player.

Tied with Cardinal legend Adam Keefe for the program record in most double-doubles in a season, he is also one of only six Power Four or Five players to reach 20 double-doubles over the past five seasons. The other players who have achieved that include Zach Edey (Purdue), Oscar Tsiebwe (Kentucky), Oumar Ballo (Arizona) and Armando Bacot (North Carolina).

If Raynaud keeps this up, he would join a very select group of of players to have won both the ACC's scoring and rebounding titles, with that feat having only been accomplished 13 times before. Of those 13, nine of them won the conference player of the year. Among other accolades that Raynaud has won this season include three ACC Player of the Week honors.

The last five players to have led the conference in both scoring and rebounding have won the ACC Player of the Year, with those players being Marvin Bagley (Duke-2018), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina-2008), Antawn Jamison (North Carolina-1998), Tim Duncan (Wake Forest-1997) and Horace Grant (Clemson- 1987).

The winners of the Wooden award last season were Edey for the men and Iowa legend and current Indiana Fever star, Caitlin Clark in the women's game. Clark won the award to cap off a four-season career at Iowa that saw her become the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I, win two national Player of the Year Awards and be a major catalyst in making women's basketball much more popular. She is now teammates in the WNBA with former Stanford star, Lexie Hull.