TOURNEY WATCH: 3/19/2011 (NCAA Open Thread)

For the third straight day of gorging on hoops, feel free to use this story's comments section as a gathering place to discuss the afternoon's NCAA Tournament action.

Texas A&M and UNLV both fell to 24-9 after ugly losses in the second round.

TAMU's loss was ugly on the offensive end, while UNLV's just was plain damn ugly.

For those counting at home, the upsets made KU's road even theoretically easier.

The 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 seeds all have been ejected from the Southwest Region already.

If the Jayhawks move past Illinois tomorrow — which will require a better effort from KU than it showed against Boston U. and the same effort Illinois evidenced against UNLV — that basically leaves the Purdue-Notre Dame winner as the only serious obstacle standing between the Beaks and the Final Four.

It's 2008 all over again.

Speaking of KU, the Jayhawks basically sleepwalked for 25 minutes before flipping the switch and blowing out the offensively challenged Terriers.

Meanwhile, fellow No. 1 seed Duke made Hampton its personal scrimmage dummy after reintegrating Kyrie Irving into its already potent offensive attack and Texas survived Oakland.

And in case you missed it, Colorado defeated California in its Pac-12 opener to advance to the third round of the tournament that nobody cares about, which means yet another meaningless game at Coors Events Center.

Associated Press Ranking = 21

ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 24

Overall Record = 23-10

Big 12 Record = 10-6

Top 50 Record = 4-6

Big 12 Seed = 4

NCAA Seed = 5

RPI = 23

SOS = 11

Region (Site) = Southeast (Tucson)

Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = Kansas, Texas, Utah State

Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = James Madison, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, Washington State, Baylor, Nebraska (2), Missouri

Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none

• James Madison (21-12, 10-8 CAA) | RPI = 88
• No. 1* seed Virginia Tech (22-11, 9-7 ACC) | RPI = 62
• Presbyterian (13-18, 7-11 Big South) | RPI = 204
• No. 11 seed Gonzaga (24-9, 11-3 WCC) | RPI = 56
• No. 1 seed Duke (31-4, 13-3 ACC) | RPI = 4: Win over No. 16 seed Hampton (87-45 in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament)
  
• Texas Southern (19-13, 16-2 SWAC) | RPI = 192
• Emporia State (16-14, 12-10 MIAA**)
• No. 2* seed Washington State (20-12, 9-9 Pac-10) | RPI = 82
• Alcorn State (4-24, 4-14 SWAC) | RPI = 337
• Loyola-Chicago (16-15, 7-11 Horizon League) | RPI = 197
• No. 2 seed Florida (27-7, 13-3 SEC) | RPI = 8
• No. 8 seed UNLV (24-9, 11-5 Mountain West) | RPI = 25: Loss to No. 9 seed Illinois (62-73 in the Southwest Region of the NCAA Tournament)
  
• UMKC (16-14, 9-9 Summit League) | RPI = 212
• North Florida (15-19, 10-10 Atlantic Sun) | RPI = 149
• Savannah State (12-18) | RPI = 252
• No. 3* seed Oklahoma State (20-13, 6-10 Big 12) | RPI = 61
• No. 1* seed Colorado (23-13, 8-8 Big 12) | RPI = 65: Win over No. 4* seed Cal (89-72 in the NIT)
  
• Texas Tech (13-19, 5-11 Big 12) | RPI = 165
• Missouri (23-11, 8-8 Big 12) | RPI = 37
• No. 7 seed Texas A&M (24-9, 10-6 Big 12) | RPI = 30: Loss to No. 10 seed Florida State (50-57 in the Southwest Region of the NCAA Tournament)
  
• Baylor (18-13, 7-9 Big 12) | RPI = 94
• No. 1 seed Kansas (33-2, 14-2 Big 12) | RPI = 1: Win over No. 16 seed Boston University (72-53 in the Southwest Region of the NCAA Tournament)
• Nebraska (19-13, 7-9 Big 12) | RPI = 89
• Iowa State (16-16, 3-13 Big 12) | RPI = 138
• Oklahoma (14-18, 5-11 Big 12) | RPI = 126
• No. 4 seed Texas (28-7, 13-3 Big 12) | RPI = 11: Win over No. 13 seed Oakland (85-81 in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament)
  
• No. 19 Utah State (30-4, 15-1 WAC) | RPI = 15
• No. 4 seed Wisconsin (24-8, 13-5 Big Ten) | RPI = 16

*NIT
**Division II