East Lansing – Whether it’s an elephant in the room or a white elephant in his mind, Tom Izzo is seeing things he’s not used to seeing, and mixing metaphors he’s not used to mixing.
Izzo’s “white elephant” is Michigan State’s 19-year NCAA Tournament streak, which is in danger, although the depth of the danger is debatable. According to my personal bracketology, the Spartans are just about in, maybe 85 percent in. Most experts peg them a 9 or 10 seed, with one caveat: Don’t lose the conference tournament opener to Penn State or Nebraska.
The danger likely is real because a stumble Thursday would be considered a bad loss, and 14 losses are the most ever posted by a team that landed an at-large bid.