Year In Review: Men’s BasketballYear In Review: Men’s Basketball
Men's Basketball

Year In Review: Men’s Basketball

STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford completed an up-and-down season in 2023-24, led by record-breaking performances from Spencer Jones and an emerging campaign from Maxime Raynaud. Highlights from the season included a Foreign Tour to France and Greece, a New Year's Day win over No. 4 Arizona and a new team 3-point record with 19 threes in a win over USC on Feb. 10 in front of a sold-out crowd.

At the conclusion of the year, Stanford hired Washington State's Kyle Smith as the program's new head coach.

History for Spencer Jones
Spencer Jones continued his re-write of the Stanford record books, ending his career in eighth place on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,610 points. Establishing himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in program history, the sniper finished with 315 career threes, breaking the program record previously held by Chasson Randle '15 and ranking seventh in Pac-12 history. He wound up eighth all-time in program history with 564 made field goals.

Jones also tied the Stanford single-game 3-point record with eight makes against Washington on Jan. 20, and he became first player in program history to make the Stanford top-10 in both steals (6th) and blocks (10th). Finally, Jones broke the program record for games played with 146.

The Final Pac-12 Honors
Maxime Raynaud was named the Pac-12's Most Improved Player and the 7-footer from Paris was joined by Spencer Jones and Kanaan Carlyle with All-Pac-12 honors. Raynaud was also chosen to the All-Pac-12 second team, while Jones was named all-defensive honorable mention and Carlyle was an honorable mention all-freshman selection.

Raynaud became the fourth Pac-12 Most Improved Player in program history, joining Dwight Powell (2013), Anthony Brown (2014) and Jaiden Delaire (2021), while the second team nod is the first of his career. Jones earned his second consecutive All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable mention selection, while Carlyle gave Stanford a player with All-Freshman honors for the fourth time in five seasons, and fifth in seven.

Additionally, Brandon Angel was named the Cardinal's fourth consecutive Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Raynaud Doubt About It
The breakout player of the Pac-12, Maxime Raynaud emerged as a junior with averages of 15.5 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in scoring and third in rebounding, and he placed sixth in field goal percentage (56.7%). Additionally, his 306 total rebounds were seventh most at Stanford in a single season.

Raynaud tallied 12 double-doubles, becoming the first Cardinal player with at least 12 since Reid Travis had 16 in 2016-17, and three games of 15 points and 15 rebounds, marking the first time since Curtis Borchardt accomplished the feat in 2001-02.

Additional Reading: Anatomy of A Miracle

Academic All-America, Again
Honored for their success on the court and in the classroom, Brandon Angel and Michael Jones were named College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans. Angel was chosen to the first team while Jones was selected to the third team. Both players earned the honor for the second consecutive season, becoming just the third and fourth players in program history to garner multiple Academic All-America selections. Additionally, Stanford is the first program with multiple All-Americans in back-to-back seasons since Kansas in 1996 and 1997.

A third team honoree in 2023, Angel earned his first selection to the first team in 2024. The Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the fourth-consecutive winner for Stanford, Angel becomes just the third player in program history to be a first team Academic All-American, along with Chasson Randle and Mark Madsen. Angel averaged 13.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game on shooting splits of 56.7 percent from the floor, 44.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 81.6 percent from the free throw line. He was the only players nationally to hit those percentages, and the only player in the Pac-12 ranked in the top-10 in all three categories.

Jones tallied his second consecutive third team honoree, while both players joined only Illinois' Marcus Domask as multiple-time honorees in 2024. Hailing from Woodbury, Minnesota, Jones averaged 10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while ranking sixth in the Pac-12 in 3-point percentage (41.8%). Additionally, Jones was second-best from beyond the arc in conference games (47.3%) and finished in the top-50 nationally in both effective field goal percentage (62.0%) and true shooting percentage (63.8%).

A New Era
Following the season, Kyle Smith was named Stanford's Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men's Basketball.

Smith joined the Cardinal program following a successful five-year stint at Washington State, where he went 94-71 overall, including a 25-10 mark and second-place finish in the Pac-12 in 2023-24. Smith holds a 258-193 career record across 14 seasons as a head coach, including six seasons at Columbia and three at San Francisco. Additionally, he spent 18 years as an assistant coach with stretches at Saint Mary's (2001-10), Air Force (2000-01) and San Diego (1992-2000).

The 2024 John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Smith led the Cougars to a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the round of 32 with a victory over Drake in the opening round, while the postseason event was the seventh for Smith as a head coach and third with Washington State. The Cougars also reached the NIT semifinals in 2022 and earned a bid for a second consecutive season in 2023.