The envelope, please …

LSU basketball opened its run in the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament Thursday with a 76-68 victory over Missouri, a game that the Tigers, as is their custom, led by scores like 25-6 and 34-9 early before at least making it interesting at the end.

But that’s not important now.

The real “news” for the Tigers, as is so often the case, is happening off the court.

At least it would be news if there was anything new about it. If not totally forgotten, this news admittedly had gone a little stale. But it turns out that the pesky and drawn-out investigation into Will Wade’s program didn’t get lost in the shuffle of everything else the NCAA has on its plate these days.

Remember? It centered around the strong “offer” to recruit Javonte Smart that FBI wiretaps overheard Wade mentioning during a sting operation in 2017. It came to light in a 2019 story by Pat Forde, who was then reporting for Yahoo.com.

Some may have assumed it went away. Out of sight, out of mind. But evidently not.

We’re not sure what happened to it, where it was hiding. It’s one thing LSU wishes would enter the NCAA transfer portal or get lost in name-image-likeness mania.

But it resurfaced this week with the startling news that, after all these years of whistling past the NCAA graveyard, LSU has finally — drum roll, please — received the Notice of Allegations from the NCAA.

And …

Not much, at least not for public consumption.

It will be real news when we know what news is inside the delivered envelope.

Presumably LSU has opened it but has not yet revealed its contents.

If it was good news for LSU, if there was any hint of an acquittal or exoneration for Wade — Just a big misunderstading, carry on — you can bet the school would be shouting it from every roof top.

Oh, but wait.

It turns out LSU can’t comment. Another of those persnickity NCAA rules pops up. So LSU’s only comment about the new news is, in effect: No comment.

“Per NCAA rules and procedures, LSU is unable to comment on any aspect of the ongoing case,” the no-comment commented.

Oh, that’s rich.

It’s too easy to point out that if Wade had been such a stickler for some of the NCAA’s more clearly defined rules and procedures — say, the ones dealing with strong “offers” — then maybe silence wouldn’t be such a cherished commodity in the process.

Maybe they wouldn’t be dealing with the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Review Process, an infractions watchdog generally reserved for the more serious cases.

There was more to the school’s comment.

“We will continue to cooperate fully with the IARP as we work together toward a resolution.”

Translation: Don’t expect any real news any time soon.

LSU has a month or so to open the envelop and respond to it. The formal hearing and subsequent NCAA ruling likely won’t happen until the fall.

So this old news still won’t become new news for a while.

Until then, it’s just a gentle reminder that however far the Tigers go in the SEC and NCAA tournaments, the program is still playing under a dark cloud.

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com