Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo Elected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame

Denzel is not the only one leaving Houston with some hardware this April. After a lot of tweets and articles suggesting that he was a lock for the Hall of Fame the official word came down on Monday morning that Tom Izzo was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

"I’ve always told my players that they need to dream something before they can achieve it," Izzo said in a press release. "Growing up in Iron Mountain, I had plenty of dreams, many of them seemed like long shots. But I’d be lying if I said being in the Hall of Fame was one of those dreams – it seemed too big. Even today, it’s surreal.

Izzo was elected in his first year on the ballot and it is not surprise. He has led the Spartans to 7 Final Fours but more impressive than that would be the 19 straight tournament appearances, a record in the conference. Izzo is only behind Bob Knight for most wins by a Big Ten coach (524 to Knight's 661) and only 20 wins away from second place all time conference wins behind Gene Keady from Purdue.

Congratulations coach Tom Izzo on being named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame! #welldeserved #Spartans pic.twitter.com/q7ZX4cMIyD

— Spartan Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) April 4, 2016