Staggering into the Big Ten season with back-to-back losses has forced the Spartans to dance on the NCAA Tournament bubble much of the season.
And in just over a month - on March 16, to be exact - the field of 65 will be released. From now until then, the Spartans (13-9 overall, 5-5 Big Ten) have seven games left on their schedule.
Despite experts predicting the Spartans as a lower-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament, MSU players and coaches have been mum on their cloudy tournament fate ever since the team struggled out of the gate.
Tony Mejia, college basketball writer for CBS.SportsLine.com, put the Spartans as a No. 12 seed in his latest bracket prediction on Wednesday. He said the loss to Wisconsin hurts, but because the Badgers are one of the conference's elite teams this year, it's not a horrible loss for MSU.
"They are definitely back on the bubble, and I think it's going to be like that all year," Mejia said. "But remember, this isn't the first year they've had to pull their way back into the tournament."
He said that experience will help down the stretch, but the Spartans will need to get things done on the hardwood.
"If they end the Big Ten with a .500 record and go out in the first round of the Big Ten tournament, (a birth) won't be too favorable," Mejia said. "But if they go 5-2 in their next seven games, and win some in the Big Ten Tournament giving them 19 or 20 wins, they should be OK."
Billy Packer, a commentator for CBS, said it has been a disappointing season for the Spartans, but he isn't counting them out of the field of 65, expecting MSU to make a sixth-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
But Packer said because the conference is "down" this season and not knowing exactly how the NCAA selection committee selects the 65 teams, there is only one surefire way to get into the field.
"Every team in Division I has the chance to earn their way into the tournament and that is by winning their conference tournament," he said. "If I was Michigan State, I'd win the Big Ten Tournament and not worry about anything else."
In recent years five to seven teams have represented the Big Ten in the Big Dance. MSU sits in a tie for 6th place in the conference with Indiana, and the Spartans have beaten Indiana twice this season.
Michigan is one of three teams tied for the conference lead, but because of the school's self-imposed ban, the Wolverines are ineligible for any postseason tournaments.
The Spartans main priority, however, is a must-win game against Northwestern at 3:01 p.m. Saturday at Breslin Center.
The Wildcats aren't as ferocious as their nickname indicates, but they have shown some bite this season. Northwestern (10-11, 2-8) is sitting alone in 10th place in the Big Ten. But the team's two wins came against Purdue and Indiana.
Northwestern's last game was a 78-67 win over the Boilermakers, who were alone in first place before the loss.
"This is one of those teams you can't afford not to stay focused for 40 minutes straight against," senior forward Aloysius Anagonye said. "A lot of teams take them lightly, but you can't do that against Northwestern."
