No nearly empty buildings. Little apathy. Atmosphere everywhere.

Those are the biggest differences Jim O'Brien found in his move from Boston College and the Big East to Ohio State and the Big Ten.

After all the rules of the game aren't any different in the Midwest. Only the passion.

"It's a rare occasion where you play on the road (in the Big Ten) and not have a really hostile environment," O'Brien said. "In the Big East, a lot of games are played off campus and at times that might hurt attendance.

"Every game you play in the Big Ten is on campus. You have a built-in fan base."

	“	It's difficult to play on the road. We told our new guys that it was going to be tough and afterwards they said, 'Coach, we didn't know it was going to be like this.' ”
		— Steve Alford, Iowa head coach

That's why the first weekend of Big Ten play didn't really surprise that many people in this area of the country. When Illinois, Iowa and Michigan State -- three teams that entered the season as the league favorites -- all went on the road and lost on Saturday, it was greeted with a shrug that suggested that it was pretty normal.

"It's difficult to play on the road," said Iowa coach Steve Alford after his Hawkeyes went to Ohio State and lost. "We told our new guys that it was going to be tough and afterwards they said, 'Coach, we didn't know it was going to be like this.'"

The Big Ten coaches contend that there might not be another league in the country where road games are so difficult to play. While leagues such as the ACC, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC all have places that are tough to get a victory (See: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Cole Field House, Hilton Coliseum, Gallagher-Iba Arena, Allen Fieldhouse, Mac Court, Maples Pavilion, Rupp Arena, Bud Walton Arena, etc.), all of those conferences have places that aren't nearly as intimidating and aren't as crowded.

Last season, every Big Ten team won at least one home game against a ranked team. That includes Northwestern and Michigan.

"There's a reason our league leads the nation in attendance every year," said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, whose Spartans have already lost league games at Minnesota and Indiana this season. "We've got some tough places to play."

At the same time, the first weekend of Big Ten play might be an indication that the league race is going to be a little more interesting that previously believed.

Early in the season, when Wisconsin lost five of its first seven games, there were reasons to believe that Bo Ryan's first season in Madison was going to be a long one. But in the last four weeks, the Badgers have started to turn things around. First was a victory over then-undefeated Marquette. Then a win over Tennessee at the Kohl Center. Now a Big Ten victory over Illinois.

Ryan, who was an extremely successful coach at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville before moving to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said November and early December was an adjustment period.

"For the guys who are now getting minutes, in the past they weren't in games at a critical time," Ryan said. "Early in the year, they needed to be in game situations."

At the same time, the returning Badgers -- especially guard Kirk Penney -- have had to adjust to new roles. In Ryan's swing offense, Penney has had to learn how to do more than just shoot jumpers. In the process, he's become a threat in the entire half court and is averaging 21.5 points per game over the last six despite scoring just eight in the victory over Illinois.

While the Badgers are improved, Ryan realizes things are going to become more difficult. Wisconsin's rotation really includes just seven players and that makes playing in the Big Ten tough.

"We've got not enough depth and experience, we have to play at a level higher than it is," Ryan said.

"We're going to try to get on the road and steal one or two and see what happens."

Games of the Week

Texas Tech at Oklahoma Saturday Bob Knight's Red Raiders have been one of the biggest surprises of the season. This game, however, will give a look at how good a Texas Tech team is that opened the season 12-1 without playing a team in the top 25. Sophomore guard Andre Emmett has thrived in Knight's system. Difficult to stop on the bounce, Emmett has gotten into the lane and either scored or distributed. Iowa at Illinois Tuesday Sure neither of the Big Ten favorites could get through even the first week of the conference season without losing, but the winner of this game -- the only meeting of the two schools because of the league's unbalanced schedule -- will be in much better position for a league title. Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois Saturday The two Missouri Valley schools have combined for victories over Iowa, Iowa State, Saint Louis and Indiana. While both teams have another game this week, it's possible both will be undefeated in the Valley for this one.

Gooden leads Jayhawks to No. 1
Maybe Kansas forward Drew Gooden wasn't a contender for national player of the year when this college basketball season started, but he certainly is now. His numbers are simply too good to be ignored.

As successful as the Jayhawks have been under Roy Williams, Kansas had never had a player be named Big 12 player of the week on three occasions during a season. But that was before Gooden won the award for the third time in six weeks this season.

At the same time, Gooden has led the Jayhawks to 12 consecutive victories and to the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press poll.

In victories over Valparaiso and Colorado, Gooden, who has five consecutive double-doubles, was nearly unstoppable, averaging 28.5 points and 16 rebounds per game while shooting 57.5 percent from the floor.

"He has been unbelievable in certain areas to say the least," Williams said. "Last week, 30 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and no turnovers in one game and then turn around at Colorado -- 27 points and 14 rebounds.

"He's been all over the backboards. He's made big shots for us. He's made baskets when we needed them down the stretch. When we played Valparaiso, they tied the score and he came down and scored immediately to take the lead. You look at all those stats and you see he's leading the conference in scoring, or close to it, and leading the conference in rebounding. Those things are not easy to do so he's been very impressive there."

In addition, the 6-foot-10 Gooden, who considered leaving for the NBA after last season, is much improved on the defensive end of the floor.

Simply put, he's a lot of the reason why the Jayhawks are No. 1 in the country.

"I think winning 12 games in a row is a big time thing," Gooden said. "We deserve to be No. 1. We haven't been No. 1 since I've been here and Kansas is a program that can always sneak up there and be No. 1.

"That kind of attention doesn't bother me. I know how to handle it. There is good attention and there is bad attention and so far we've been getting lots of good attention."

Putting Texas-OSU incident to rest
Considering how ugly things became at the end of Saturday's Texas-Oklahoma State game, it appears there were no serious injuries, no serious punishment and no serious hard feelings.

The ugly scene started when Longhorns guard T.J. Ford chased a loose ball out of bounds in into the crowd at Gallagher-Iba Arena and knocked down a pregnant woman in the process. The woman's husband then grabbed Ford around the neck and a scuffle ensued. In the process, Longhorns sophomore James Thomas could be seen throwing a punch at a fan. While Texas players and coaches left the bench, no suspensions were issued because the fight wasn't between players.

The woman was examined after the fall, but was treated and released from a Stillwater hospital. Ford was also fine, but there was concern as he nearly had surgery before the season because the opening in his vertebrae where the spinal cord runs is abnormally small.

"This is the kind of kid T.J. is," Barnes said. "The first thing he said when things calmed down was, 'Do you think I need to go and apologize? Do you think the lady is OK?'"

Both schools exchanged apologies for the incident, but Barnes said it was an isolated incident rather than a trend at Oklahoma State.

"They do a great job of crowd control there," Barnes said. "From the time you get off the bus, they're on top of it. I don't think what happened is a reflection at all on the way they do things."

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