Chris Solari

Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON -- Newly bejacketed Basketball Hall of Famer Tom Izzo picked up another national honor today.

Michigan State’s 22nd-year head coach was named the 2016 winner of the Dean Smith Award, which goes to “an individual in college basketball who embodies the spirit and values of the late North Carolina coaching great.”

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association will present Izzo with the award at a to-be-determined MSU home game this season. Former Georgetown coach John Thompson won the inaugural award last year.

“Tom Izzo represents everything the Dean Smith Award stands for,” USBWA president Ed Graney said in a release. “Coach Izzo’s distinguished career and commitment to excellence represent the standards for which this award is defined, qualities coach Smith held as paramount in making an impact on the lives of players on and off the court.

Izzo was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

Windsor: Izzo begins new Michigan State era with five-star freshmen

Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@chrissolari.

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