Stanford became the first of the four number one seeds to be knocked out of this year's NCAA tournament when they lost 70-67 to Alabama.

Kennedy Winston scored 21 points as the eighth-seeded Crimson Tide stunned the Cardinal in the Phoenix regional competition.

Dan Grunfeld missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer as Stanford made their exit.

The Cardinal led the game 53-40 with 7:40 to play, but a 16-0 Alabama had them on the ropes and they lost for just the second time in 32 games this season.

Trailing 70-64, Matt Lottich hit a three-pointer with 7.2 seconds remaining.

When Alabama's Earnest Sheldon missed two free throws seconds later, the Cardinal had one more chance to save the game.

But Grunfield missed his shot, giving the Crimson Tide a date in the Sweet 16 against Syracuse next week in Phoenix.

Fifth seeded Syracuse, the defending national champions, survived a late rally to edge fourth ranked Maryland 72-70.

In another major upset, second-seeded Gonzaga, themselves a Cinderella team for several years, fell to number 10 Nevada 91-72 in St Louis.

Kevinn Pinkney scored 20 points, Todd Okeson added 19 and Kirk Snyder had 18 for the Wolf Pack.

Gonzaga (28-3) trailed by as many as 20 in the first half and never really got back into the game.

In East Rutherford, top-ranked St Joseph's (29-1) survived a scare to edge eight seed Texas Tech 70-65, knocking out veteran coach Bobby Knight's team.

Fourth-seeded Wake Forest edged number 12 Manhattan 84-80.

Duke (29-5) continued its impressive play as the Atlanta Region's top seed easily defeated eighth seed Seton Hall 90-62.