Senior Brandon Angel has been named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men’s basketball, adding to his already impressive list of awards for his performance on and off the court.
Angel is Stanford’s fourth consecutive winner in the category, following Oscar da Silva (2021), Sam Beskind (2022), and James Keefe (2023). Stanford men’s basketball became one of only five Pac-12 programs to win the honor four years in a row, joining men’s rowing (2024-17), women’s soccer (2010-13), women’s swimming (2018-21), and women’s volleyball (2019-22).
Stanford men’s basketball has earned over half of the all-time accolades in the category since its establishment in 2007-08, with eight of the 17 recipients being Cardinal players. Stanford’s other champions were Dorian Pickens (2018), Chasson Randle (2015), Dwight Powell (2014), and Landry Fields (2010).
Angel is perhaps the most effective volume scorer in the country, averaging 12.8 points per game on 56.1/46.5/84.8 shooting splits, and he is the only player in the country who meets all four thresholds. According to KenPom, he ranks 12th nationally in true shooting percentage (67.8%) and 23rd in effective field goal percentage (63.6%). He is the Pac-12’s lone player rated in the top ten in the conference for field goal (8th, 56.1%), three-point field goal (1st, 46.5%), and free throw (5th, 84.8%).
Angel, a third-team College Sports Communicators Academic All-American last season, has a 3.99 GPA in economics and is currently working on an honors thesis analyzing the impact of school closures on academic achievement, which includes data collection and cleaning, regression analysis, and a literature review. He has also engaged in team community service activities like as youth basketball camps in the Bay Area and the Bahamas, as well as reading to elementary school students.
Angel also serves on the NABC Honors Court (2023) and has been named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll twice (2022, 2023).
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 graduate, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, compete in at least 50% of the sport’s scheduled contests, and have spent at least one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, with winners chosen by a Pac-12 staff committee at the end of each sport’s regular season. The nominees’ sporting accomplishments are considered when voting for the prize. Each of the Pac-12’s 24 sanctioned sports will have its own Scholar-Athlete of the Year.