STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior Dorian Pickens was named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference announced Monday night.
Pickens, who was also an honorable mention All-Pac-12 selection on Monday, owns a 3.42 cumulative grade-point average as a communications major. He was recently voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team and is on the ballot for the CoSIDA Academic All-America team. The Cardinal senior is also a two-time member of the Pac-12 All-Academic Team. He is on the ballot again this season.
A member of the Peter Sauer Captainship, Pickens finished eighth in the Pac-12 standings in scoring at 15.9 ppg during conference action. He is the conference's top three-point shooter, leading the league at 3.1 three-point field goals per game (56) during conference play. The senior forward finished sixth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.455) in league action. Pickens missed 11 games during the nonconference season with a foot injury and was not included among in the Pac-12's overall statistical leaders as he has not met the conference's requirement of playing in 75 percent of his team's overall games. Had he been included in the Pac-12's overall statistics, the Cardinal forward would lead the conference in three-point field goals made per game (2.9), rank fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.426) and rank 13th in overall scoring (15.4 ppg). Pickens' 54 three-pointers in his last 17 games is the ninth-most among players from major conferences during that span.
The senior ranks ninth in school history with 186 career three-point field goals. Earlier this season, he became the 47th player in Stanford history to record 1,000 career points. He currently has 1,131 career points in 112 career games.
Pickens is the fourth Stanford men's basketball student-athlete to win the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. Previous Cardinal winners include Chasson Randle (2015), Dwight Powell (2014) and Landry Fields (2010).
Pickens is the fourth Stanford student-athlete to be voted the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year in their sport in 2017-18, joining Brittany McPhee (women's basketball), Nathan Butler (wrestling) and Janet Hu (women's swimming).
Stanford finished tied for third in the Pac-12 Conference standings, its highest finish in the conference in 10 seasons. The 11 conference wins are also the Cardinal's most since 2007-08 (13-5). Stanford will be the No. 5 seed in this week's Pac-12 Tournament and face No. 12 seed California Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. PT at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport's regular season. The athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award. A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12's 24 sponsored sports.
