The focus for Michigan State is now on the NCAA Tournament after the Spartans were narrowly defeated by Wisconsin, 77-74, in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal on Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis.

It was only really a matter of time before the schedule caught up with the Spartans. The loss stopped an eight-game (all Quad 1) win streak for Michigan State.

“Quad 1 wins, whatever the hell that means,” said MSU head coach Tom Izzo after the loss.

No matter how Izzo feels about the analytics used by the selection committee, this is one that is in his favor. Barring any real movement in the data that determines which quads the games fall in, MSU will have the second-most such victories in the country (13).

Losses like Saturday’s happen.

Wisconsin is a very good team that will probably be named as either a three or four seed on Sunday, after all.

“I think they (Wisconsin) will go a long ways in that tournament in a week, and I’ll be pulling for every single Big Ten team that’s in it,” Izzo said. “I hope we get more than eight (teams in), because I think to go through this gauntlet is hell, and you play that many games and you travel that many miles, and I think there’s some good teams out there that I hear are on the bubble."

Izzo then wandered down a rabbit trail in his postgame presser answers.

“When I get out of this profession, I’m going to get on one of them committees, because the analytics are gonna be out the door," Izzo said. "The eye test is gonna (rule) — I’m gonna go to a game, sit there and watch. And the eye test... there’s some good teams.”

In total, 15 of Michigan State’s 22 games against Big Ten competition were in the top quadrant, with the Spartans going 12-3 in those games. For reference, Duke, the No. 1 team in the NET data ranking will have played 12 Quad 1 games all season prior to the NCAA Tournament.

MSU is a battle-tested team that has readied itself for the game-by-game grind of March Madness.

It was just the same, fixable things that plagued the Spartans on Saturday. For example, forward Jaxon Kohler missed the front-end of a one-and-one that would have tied the game with 3:24 left. MSU got an offensive rebound, but didn’t convert. Stuff like that can change the dynamic of such a tight game.

“(We) kind of lost our minds on a few things,” Izzo said. “You just can’t do that in these big games. Swings are swings, and when they happen, they’re hard to make up for."

Izzo thought his team had some guys who played really well.

"All in all, I thought it was a hell of a game," said Izzo. "Seven turnovers, we out-rebound them, (shot) it a little less than they did, shot it decent from the three. I thought there was a lot of positives. The negatives kind of reared (their) ugly head, and that’s a shame in a game like that.”

The odd part is that Michigan State has generally been very good in these tight situations.

MSU had just beaten the Badgers by nine, despite holding just a slim two-point lead with about five minutes left. In its road game at Michigan, the Spartans ended that contest on a 9-0 run when it had just a four-point lead with about four minutes to go.

Sometimes, it just doesn’t go your way.

“We had our chances,” Izzo said. “We missed a couple of bunnies in there, and we didn’t miss many free throws, but (we missed) a couple critical ones, and that’s kinda what happens.”