The street adjacent to Assembly Hall in Champaign-Urbana is honorary Lou Henson Way for a reason. Lou is the all time winningest coach in Illinois basketball history.
It was just announced minutes ago that Lou Henson became a member of the 2015 induction class for the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Henson will take part in the enshrinement ceremony on Nov. 20
Joining Henson in the Class of 2015 are coaches Don Donoher (Dayton) and C. Felton “Zip” Gayles (Langston) and players Rolando Blackman (Kansas State), Quinn Buckner (Indiana), John Havlicek (Ohio State), Ed Ratleff (Long Beach State) and Charlie Scott (North Carolina).
Lou Henson had a 423-224 record at Illinois. He earned 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and eleven 20-win seasons. Henson earned a top-5 seed in the NCAA Tournament seven straight years from 1984 through 1990. Henson is best known for leading the Flyin’ Illini, who won a then-school record 31 games and advanced to the 1989 NCAA Final Four. Lou Henson ranks fifth all-time among Big Ten coaches in both total wins (423) and conference wins (214).
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)