The wild West is making up for the dearth of upsets in the rest of the NCAA Tournament.

With each of the top three seeds going down Saturday -- led by top-seeded Arizona's nearly annual meltdown -- the West heads to its regional in Albuquerque this week with a collection of dark horses, long shots, and yes... Cinderellas.

Tenth-seeded Gonzaga is back in the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year ... and eighth-seeded Wisconsin is in for the first time in decades ... and sixth-seeded Purdue is in for the third year in a row.

And then there's fourth-seeded LSU, which outlasted Texas and suddenly is on the fast track to the Final Four.

Zig-zag approach

One year as a Cinderella wasn't enough for Gonzaga. We know, this year, the Zags supposedly aren't long shots.

Still, just like last year, they started as a No. 10 seed. And defeated second-seeded St. John's on Saturday just as they defeated second-seeded Stanford last year. And just like last year, they next take on a sixth-seed (Purdue) instead of an imposing No. 3 ... although nothing is more imposing these days than a hot-shooting Matt Santangelo and Co.

Cats scratched fever

As hard as it is to criticize Arizona coach Lute Olson -- the guy has a national title and has taken the Wildcats to three Final Fours -- Saturday's loss marked the fifth time in nine years his teams have lost to teams seeded at least seven spots beneath them.

• 1992: No. 3 Arizona dropped a first-round game to No. 14 East Tennessee State.
• 1993: No. 2 Arizona lost to No. 15 Santa Clara in the first round.
• 1995: No. 5 Arizona lost to No. 12 Miami of Ohio in the first round.
• 1999: No. 4 Arizona lost to No. 13 Oklahoma in the first round.

Hey, at least losing to No. 8 Wisconsin on Saturday wasn't in the first round.

To be fair, there was also that 1997 season, when Olson led the Wildcats from a fifth-place finish in the Pac-10 to the national championship after coming in as a No. 4 seed. On their way to that title, the Wildcats defeated three of the tournament's four top seeds.

The ones have it ... usually

There's no such thing as a sure deal in the tournament, but top seeds getting to the Sweet 16 is as close as it gets. No top seed has ever lost in the first round (64-0) and, including Arizona's second-round ouster Saturday, the number ones are 54-8 in the second round. That's a winning percentage of nearly 94 percent in the first and second rounds combined (118-8).

Stars of the Day

• Matt Santangelo, Gonzaga: The lead Zag outplayed St. John's Erick Barkley, scoring 26 points and drilling 6 of 9 shots from 3-point range.
• Earl Watson, UCLA: The Bruins point guard played the game of his life -- 17 points, 16 assists -- as UCLA played its game of the year, wiping out third-seed Maryland, 105-70.
• Stromile Swift, Louisiana State: The 6-9 sophomore scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but his biggest contribution might have come when he blocked a dunk attempt by Texas' Chris Mihm that all but sealed the deal for the Tigers.
• Mateen Cleaves, Michigan State: His presence is always big. Saturday, his numbers were, too. The 6-2 senior scored 21 points and was 4 of 7 from 3-point range, seemingly always dropping a bomb when Utah, which led most of the first half, was trying to build its advantage.
• Andre Hutson, Michigan State: Just another efficient game for the junior forward as he scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and cleared eight rebounds.
• Marcus Fizer, Iowa State: Looks like the early favorite for the Midwest's most outstanding player, adding 22 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Auburn to the 27 and 11 he had in the first round against Central Connecticut State.

Showdowns come a couple of rounds early

It's been a down year for some traditional powers and that has set up a slew of second-round matchups between teams that are used to seeing each other in Regional Finals -- or Final Fours.

• Kentucky vs. Syracuse: Neither team up to its usual standards, Kentucky drew the fifth-seed and was bounced by fourth-seeded Syracuse in the second round.
• Michigan State vs. Utah: Just two years removed from the Final Four, Utah was saddled with a No. 8 and gave top-seeded Michigan State a fight before bowing out in the second round.
• Duke vs. Kansas: Starting three freshmen and a sophomore, ninth-seeded Kansas gets to play top-seeded Duke on Sunday after a first-round battle with DePaul.
• Stanford vs. North Carolina: If Brendan Haywood duplicates the 28-point, 15-rebound first-round outing against Missouri, North Carolina might be able to do away with a season's worth of frustration against top-seed Stanford.

Stat of the Day

Eleven players have committed at least six turnovers in a game during the tournament.

Against Syracuse on Saturday, Kentucky became the first to have two players eclipse the mark in the same game when Jamal Magloire committed seven turnovers and Saul Smith kicked it away six times. That's 13 turnovers from the Wildcats' starting center and point guard in a two-point loss. Before Saturday's games, 30 teams had gone entire games committing 13 or fewer miscues. That number grew to 31 when Syracuse committed just 12.

Big stuff from Big Ten

The Big Ten was the king of the basketball conferences last season -- placing seven teams in the tournament, winning 13 games and placing two teams in the Final Four. And now it's at it again. The league already has eight victories, with only one loss.

Midway through the second round, here's a glance at which conferences are rolling: