Maybe Arizona was tested a little more in the Pac-10 than anyone east of the Colorado Rockies thought.

The Bristol Common Sense Index can admit a mistake. Arizona was right. The Wildcats did have a tough go this season to win the regular-season title.

The Big 12 and the SEC were still the two toughest and deepest conferences, but the Pac-10 shouldn't have been so maligned in 2002-03. Arizona was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 all season. Stanford and Cal made appearances in the polls, as did Oregon before the calendar turned.

But who knew the Pac-10 would be the story on the first day of the NCAA Tournament. And it wasn't just the Pac-10, because the story of the day might have been the overall brand of ball played out of the West.

The Pac-10 went 4-0 Thursday with impressive wins by top-seeded Arizona over No. 16 Vermont; a thrilling win for No. 8 California over No. 9 North Carolina State; No. 3 Stanford holding off No. 14 San Diego; and No. 10 Arizona State taking out No. 7 Memphis rather convincingly.

That was just the Pac-10.

No. 9 Gonzaga held on to beat No. 8 Cincinnati. San Diego, which beat Gonzaga in the WCC title game, nearly took down Stanford. No. 14 Colorado State gave No. 3 Duke fits down to the final minute before losing in Salt Lake City. No. 15 Utah State had its chance to tie No. 2 Kansas in the final five seconds before bowing out by three. Only the two No. 12s -- Weber State and BYU, oddly enough -- didn't give their No. 5 foes (Wisconsin and Connecticut) the shivers late in losses.

It may have been a clean sweep for the West, but just look at these impressive numbers out of the Pac-10 and its neighbors:

•Stanford's Josh Childress was sensational with 22 points and 11 boards and had four blocks. The Cardinal also got balanced scoring with double figures from Matt Lottich, Julius Barnes and Rob Little.
• Even in the loss, San Diego's Jason Blair scored 27 points.
• Arizona's Salim Stoudamire scored 18 points and made four 3s.
• Cal's Joe Shipp was too hard to find for N.C. State with 24 points, five assists and eight boards. British point guard Richard Midgley hit the game-winning 3-pointer and finished with 11 points. Midgley's scoring helped pick up the slack after Amit Tamir was 2 for 10 on 3s.
• Gonzaga's Ronny Turiaf was a force in the middle. He scored 22 points, grabbed 10 boards and was 16 of 22 from the free-throw line. Turiaf was only 3 of 10 from the field, but he was still a huge presence and did a great job of running the floor and finishing.
• ASU's super freshman Ike Diogu scored 22 points, including 10 in the second half, to lead the Sun Devils to a stunning win over No. 7 seed Memphis. Diogu was the top freshman in the Pac-10 and he could have been the national freshman of the year if Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony had decided to go directly to the NBA out of high school. Diogu didn't miss in the second half (6 of 6) and hit two 3s.
• Weber State couldn't beat Wisconsin, but its two stars didn't disappoint. Jermaine Boyette (25 points) and Slobodan Ocokoljic (26) lived up to their hype.
• Colorado State's Matt Nelson scored 21 points in the Rams' near-miss against the Blue Devils. The Rams, the stunning entrant out of the Mountain West after upsetting UNLV at home in the conference tourney title game last Saturday, were two botched late possessions from taking the lead.
• Utah State's Desmond Penigar scored 25 points for the Aggies who were a 3-pointer away from getting into OT with Kansas. Stew Morrill once again did one of the best coaching jobs of the day but this time he finally got noticed by the nation.

The rest of Thursday's CSI report:

No more bracket busting: Connecticut should receive a gift from the NCAA Tournament selection committee for knocking off BYU. The win over the Cougars means all brackets are safe for the rest of the tournament. Had BYU beaten Connecticut and then taken out Stanford in the second round then the Cougars would have been sent to the Midwest instead of the South regional. BYU was inadvertently put in a Friday-Sunday regional and the Mormon Church-run school doesn't play on Sundays.

Best defensive effort: Who else but the nation's best defender all year? Connecticut's Emeka Okafor dominated the Cougars' Rafael Araujo (2 for 11) with seven blocks and one steal in addition to his 20 points.

Smart move by the Sooners: Oklahoma was in a blowout situation, so Kelvin Sampson did the right thing by resting Hollis Price. Price, who suffered a pulled groin against Missouri in the Big 12 tournament title game, played just 11 minutes against South Carolina State. Sampson did the right thing in not pushing his star guard. He'll need him against California on Saturday.

The British are coming: Back in October, while following Duke on a trip to London, British basketball gurus were raving about Midgley. Who knew the Brits had such hoop talent? Midgley has been a find for Cal coach Ben Braun. His 3-pointer to beat N.C. State was taken without hesitation. Midgley made the Bears forget about Shantay Legans awfully fast this season. If he continues to mature into a scoring guard, the Bears have a shot not only to advance in this field, but also stay in the top four of the Pac-10 during his career.

Here comes the MAC ... again: Central Michigan beat Kent State in the MAC tournament final, so naturally the Chippewas picked up where the Golden Flashes left off last season. Central Michigan plucked off an upset in the first round and kept the MAC's March Madness tradition alive.

Gonzaga's back where it belongs: Can we officially say the Bulldogs' first-round loss last season to Wyoming was a fluke? Gonzaga got back to the second round after a one-year hiatus. Since 1999, the Bulldogs have taken down teams like Virginia, Florida, Minnesota, St. John's, Louisville, Stanford, and now Cincinnati in the NCAAs.

Vermont's historic season ends: The Catamounts get the award for the best story in a losing effort. Vermont missed out on its Wednesday news conference because of travel issues. Vermont got stuck in Denver, drove to Colorado Springs, and flew to Salt Lake City because of the snowstorm in the Rocky Mountains. Vermont coach Tom Brennan would have been perfect for the news conferences. He got his moment to shine and display his wit during a postgame news conference. But Vermont still was able to make a name for its program because of its travel. The Catamounts return the core of their team, notably Taylor Coppenrath and get back point guard T.J. Sorrentine next season from two fractured wrists.

Cincinnati meltdown: Bob Huggins didn't have to lose his cool so early in the second half. His ejection from the game against Gonzaga definitely was a factor. The Bearcats were a bit lost at times, looking for leadership. Associate coach Dan Peters is a capable coach, but he doesn't deliver the same amount of emotion that the Bearcats needed.

Say cheese: Wisconsin basketball continued its glorious season. The Badgers thwarted any upset bid by Weber State early and advanced to the second round. Marquette got by Holy Cross despite a late scare. And Wisconsin-Milwaukee was a dunk away from taking down Notre Dame. Wisconsin came off a sluggish Big Ten tournament first-round loss to Ohio State to score a convincing win. Marquette needed a win in the NCAAs to show that the Eagles weren't just a regular-season team after losing in the first round last season.

The Missouri Valley's absence: The vaunted Valley went out early with Southern Illinois leaving on a questionable block/charge call to Missouri, while Creighton couldn't catch up to Central Michigan.

Competitive late at-large teams: Give the selection committee credit, late additions Southern Illinois, N.C. State, Gonzaga and Arizona State all showed they were worthy of at-large berths. Gonzaga and Arizona State won, while Southern Illinois and N.C. State were a possession away from pulling off a victory.

Best email on the night:
David from Dallas writes, "I have a quote for you Andy. 'Tulsa: Three WAC tourney wins on their own court, without regular season champion Fresno State in town, says the No. 13 seed Golden Hurricane isn't ready for primetime against Dayton.' -- Andy Katz

My response: "Serve up the crow."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.