Stanford's Maxime Raynaud Named ACC Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Maxime Raynaud excels in the classroom just as much as he excels on the court

Mar 1, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward Maxime Raynaud (42) reacts during a press conference with the media after the game against the Southern Methodist Mustangs at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

On the court, Maxime Raynaud is a superstar for Stanford basketball, not only evolving into one of the premier players in the ACC, but in all of college basketball as well. But off the court, Raynaud is just as successful, leading by example as an exceptional student.

As the college basketball regular season winds down, end-of-season awards have started to be handed out, with Raynaud being announced on Wednesday to be the recipient of the ACC's Skip Prosser Award for Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Named after former Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser, the award is for the men's ACC scholar athlete of the year while the women's scholar athlete of the year receives the Kay Yow award. This year's women's winner was Notre Dame guard, Olivia Miles.

Established in the fall of 2007, the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards are given to the top junior or senior student-athlete for each and every sport.

Based 60% on academic achievements and 40% on what an athlete has accomplished on the field or court, student-athletes must have at least a 3.0 GPA for their entire college career as well as having maintained a 3.0 or higher in the previous two semesters.

Raynaud, who is averaging 20.2 points and 10.9 rebounds, has been crucial for Stanford all season long and has led the program to its most wins in a season since 2019-20. He is also tied for the most double doubles in the nation this season with 21 and broke Stanford's single-season record in that category this year as well.

Only the fifth Stanford player in history to score at least 1,400 points and record 900 career rebounds, Raynaud leads the ACC in rebounding and is second in scoring, while being ranked top 20 in the nation in both categories.

In the classroom, Raynaud is a double major, majoring in both computer science and math. Despite both of those majors being extremely rigorous, Raynaud consistently earns strong grades and still makes sure to be very active in the Stanford community.

Among the community efforts that he has partaken in were being a speaker at Stanford's Democracy Day, being a participant with Team IMPACT, and volunteering at Stanford's Powwow Festival-- the largest Native American festival in California.

While the scholar athlete of the year was the first official hardware that Raynaud has received this season, it is not the first recognition that he has gotten, also being selected to the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year midseason team, the Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 watch list and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Top 10 list, among a few others.

Raynaud's strong season has certainly turned heads, but for a player aspiring to go to the NBA, he has undoubtedly raised his draft stock as he looks to prove to teams that he can be a real difference maker.

With the Cardinal set to play two more regular season games before the start of the ACC tournament, Raynaud could be the key to the Cardinal making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in well over a decade.