Winners and Losers from the Elite 8

The Final Four are set.

The still-undefeated Kentucky Wildcats, the Wisconsin Badgers, the Duke Blue Devils and the seventh-seeded Michigan State Spartans are heading to Indianapolis.

But before we turn our attention forward, here's a look back at the winners and losers from this past weekend's Elite Eight.

Loser: Gonzaga

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

The Gonzaga Bulldogs advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1999 but could not get past the Duke Blue Devils in Sunday's quarterfinal.

They've been one of the best mid-major programs in college basketball for nearly two decades, but they have yet to advance to the Final Four despite 17 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

The News & Observer's Laura Keeley reported Gonzaga head coach Mark Few's comments on Mike Krzyzewski:

"

"I put him on the same platform as John Wooden." — Mark Few on K

— Laura Keeley (@laurakeeley) March 28, 2015"

Losing to a program and coach of that caliber likely softens the blow, but with 16 seasons between Elite Eight appearances, it's hard to predict when the Bulldogs will have their next shot.

Winner: Kentucky

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The giants remain unscathed.

The Kentucky Wildcats held off the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to pull off their 38th win of the season in Saturday's quarterfinal, putting them just two wins away from a perfect 40-0 record.

College basketball hasn't crowned a national champion with a perfect record since 1976 when Indiana finished 32-0 to clinch the title.

Kentucky will have to get through the Wisconsin Badgers in Saturday's semifinal in order to advance to the national championship, a feat that could prove problematic for the Cats who have not seen an offense quite as slow yet this season.

Loser: Big 12

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

How did Big 12 teams fare in the Elite Eight? Trick question, there weren't any there.

The Big 12 was the best conference in college basketball entering the tournament, according to CBS Sports' conference RPI rankings.

That was, until the actual tournament rolled around.

Seven Big 12 teams received tournament bids. The furthest any got? Oklahoma and West Virginia to the Sweet 16. The third-seeded Iowa State Cyclones and Baylor Bears didn't even see past the second round, while the No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks lost in the third.

Winner: Big Ten

Elsa/Getty Images

No. 7 seed Michigan State pulled off the 76-70 overtime win over No. 4 seed Louisville the day after Wisconsin defeated Arizona on the quarterfinal stage for the second consecutive year.

That's two Big Ten teams in the Final Four.

Not too bad for the conference with just the fourth-highest RPI, according to CBS Sports. 

Go ahead and add that to the College Football Playoff's first championship, Jim Delany.

Loser: Zach Auguste

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Count Zach Auguste as a loser in the sense that he got snubbed.

The Notre Dame power forward had a phenomenal performance against Kentucky, shooting 10-of-13 from the field for 20 points while grabbing nine boards—six of which were offensive.

But the Wildcats overcame the Fighting Irish's lead to win 68-66, and Auguste lost his shot at leading Notre Dame to the program's first Final Four since 1978.

Winner: Sam Dekker

The West Region's most outstanding player certainly earned the honor with his career-high 27-point performance in Wisconsin's 95-78 win over Arizona.

Perhaps what was more remarkable was his second-half performance from downtown, as the Orange County Register's Bill Oram noted:

"

Sam Dekker was 5/6 from 3. That's good. He was 5/5 from 3 in the second half. That's brilliant.

— Bill Oram (@billoram) March 29, 2015"

Not to mention his final three-point shot, as shown above, which gave the Badgers the separation they needed to close out the game against the Wildcats.

Losers: Arizona and Wisconsin Fans

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

The 28 second-half fouls made this game pretty much unwatchable.

Arizona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson fouled out, while seven other players got into foul trouble, including Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky and Nigel Hayes.

Fans expressed their frustrations via Twitter:

"

Too many fouls in this Arizona & Wisconsin game, let em play

— Dominic Saldana (@dom_saldandan23) March 29, 2015"

"

Too many fouls being called in the Wisconsin vs Arizona game! #letthemplay #MarchMadness

— Jake Wegner (@jake_wegs7) March 29, 2015"

The teams combined for 43 fouls and 61 shots from the line over the 40 minutes.

Winners: Notre Dame and Kentucky Fans

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The Kentucky Wildcats managed to hold off Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish didn't go down without a fight. In fact, they led for more than 10 minutes of the second half, including a six-point edge with just over six minutes remaining. 

The Cats barely escaped 68-66 to remain undefeated.

According to Forbes contributor Maury Brown, the quarterfinal was the most viewed college basketball game in cable television history.

Loser: Sean Miller

Harry How/Getty Images

The Arizona Wildcats' Sean Miller is often referred to as the best coach in college basketball to not advance to the Final Four. On Saturday, he lost his fourth opportunity as a head coach to do so, losing to the Wisconsin Badgers for the second consecutive year.

He admitted the difficulty of again not advancing in Saturday's postgame press conference, via the Wildcats' YouTube page: "When you lose in this game, it's hard. You lose four times in seven years—that's probably a record, right?"

This was the third Elite Eight appearance Miller has coached the Wildcats to in six seasons with the program.

As you can imagine, he was not happy with some fans' negative reactions to the loss:

"

Finally to the people that try to make us feel like our season was a failure. Go cheer for ASU! #BearDown

— Sean Miller (@UACoachMiller) March 30, 2015"

Winner: Tom Izzo

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Make it seven Final Fours for Tom Izzo and Michigan State—the most for any program since 1999.

According to SportsCenter, Izzo is the only coach with claim to three Final Four bids as a fifth-seed or lower:

"

Tom Izzo has led Michigan State to 7 Final Fours. He's only coach in tournament history with 3 as a 5-seed or lower. pic.twitter.com/DvJDX41o0w

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 29, 2015"

The Spartans join three No. 1 seeds in the Final Four: Kentucky, Duke and Wisconsin.

But according to Michigan State basketball reporter Kyle Austin of MLive.com, Izzo doesn't consider his team to be the underdog: "I'm not going to use the underdog role, that would be disrespecting the program we built," Izzo said.