Try making sense of the Big Ten. Trust us, it isn't easy.

Just take the beginning of this week for example. First Michigan State travels to Illinois, scores all of 40 points and the Spartans get rolled by 30 points.

One night later, road teams finally find a way to win. Home teams had won 76.7 percent of league games, but Wednesday night, road teams won three of four games. And the home team that won? That would be previously winless Penn State, which rallied from eight down in the final 102 seconds to defeat league-leading Wisconsin.

	A game out of first place, losing at Penn State won't help Bo Ryan's Badgers sort out a muddled Big Ten title race.

The result? A huge mess atop the standings.

Michigan -- the same team that opened the season with six consecutive losses -- now sits atop the Big Ten standings with a 9-3 record. Purdue and Wisconsin follow at 8-4. Minnesota and Illinois are tied for fourth at 7-4. With the Wolverines idle this weekend and the next four teams playing schools from the league's second division, the top of the standings should become even more crowded.

All of this comes at a time when the Badgers appeared en route to at least a share of a second consecutive conference title. Wisconsin entered Wednesday's game at Penn State as the Big Ten favorite. Beat the Nittany Lions and Bo Ryan's team would have the most favorable schedule.

Wisconsin's remaining games are at Iowa, vs. Michigan, at Minnesota and vs. Illinois. By comparison, Purdue plays three of its final four on the road (at Ohio State, at Michigan State and at Michigan). Michigan does have a game against last-place Penn State, but the Wolverines other three games are against some of the league's top teams (Wisconsin, Illinois and Purdue).

The other two teams a game out -- Illinois and Minnesota -- also have difficult schedules remaining. The Illini have remaining games with Northwestern, Indiana, at Michigan, at Wisconsin and against Minnesota. The Gophers, who are 2-5 on the road this season, play three of their final four away from Williams Arena.

With less than two minutes to play Wednesday, the Badgers still looked to be in good position, leading by eight with 1:42 remaining. However Sharif Chambliss and DeForrest Riley would score the game's final nine points to give Penn State the victory.

"It came down to them getting the two threes and the three point play," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said after the game. "They got nine points in three plays. That's the way it can get away from you. We couldn't convert at the end, there's no other way to explain it."

This was the second time this season the Badgers saw a late-game lead vanish. A similar thing happened in a loss to the Wolverines. Still, for most of the season Wisconsin has been a fundamentally sound team. They're among the nation's leaders in fewest turnovers. They play good defense. And they play well as a team.

It had reached the point where it was unbelievable that the Badgers weren't ranked in the nation's top 25. Last week, Wisconsin defeated both Michigan State and Indiana and entered the game with the Nittany Lions having won eight of nine games. Of Wisconsin's previous five losses, four came against teams that are currently ranked (Marquette, Wake Forest, Illinois and Purdue).

"Wisconsin can play with anybody in the country," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. "When we played Oregon earlier in the season, I said 'I would take Wisconsin over Oregon right now' and that was when (the Ducks) were the No. 5 team in the country."

While that may be true, the Badgers are still fighting a bit of a perception problem. This is Ryan's second season in Madison, but many people think these are still Dick Bennett's Badgers -- you know, the ones that want to control the tempo and shorten the game.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, CBS announcer Dick Enberg said before last weekend's Badgers-Hoosiers game that Wisconsin is "a well-schooled team trying to keep the score in the 60s or 50s."

The problem is that the Badgers are actually fourth in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 73.1 points per game and have been kept below 60 points only twice this season. Wisconsin is also much more athletic than people perceive the Badgers to be, that's especially true in the players Ryan has brought into the program.

The Badgers have four players averaging at least 11.3 points per game in Kirk Penney, Devin Harris, Alando Tucker and Freddie Owens. Sophomore big man Mike Wilkinson adds 9.3 points per game.

"The way they beat you is to out-execute you, although they've got great athletes," Illinois coach Bill Self said. "They're starting four very good athletes that are all under 6-6. Yet, when you think of Wisconsin, I don't think of high-flying (and) spectacular. I think of sound, fundamental execution, make the extra pass, just a coach's dream as far as (how) he wants a team to play.

"Sometimes when you play that way, people look at them and say, Yeah, they're good, they're solid, but they don't have anybody making just spectacular plays all the time. They're just sound. Sometimes that can go unnoticed more so than the spectacular."

Said Iowa coach Steve Alford: "I think they're as good as anybody in our league and I think they're probably a favorite to win our league again."

Can that happen now that the Badgers have suffered their first bad loss of the season? That will play out over the next couple of weeks.

The only thing that's certain is that the Big Ten winner will once again have several losses. Last season, four teams -- Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana and the Badgers -- shared the conference title with 11-5 records.

Michigan now appears to have the best shot at winning the title. And, Wolverines coach Tommy Amaker now has a week to prepare for Wednesday's game at Wisconsin.

But to further cloud the Big Ten situation, Michigan is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines can win the regular-season title and is eligible for the Big Ten tournament. If they win both, the second-place team in Big Ten regular season gets the bid.

Like we said, making sense of the Big Ten isn't easy.

Games of the Week

Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Southern Illinois, Saturday Aside from the Creighton-Fresno State game, this might be the most interesting game in Saturday's Bracket Buster event. While virtually all of the Horizon hype goes to Butler, Wisconsin-Milwaukee has quietly taken a three-game lead in the win column in the league standings. Likewise, Southern Illinois -- you know a Sweet 16 team last season -- is now tied for the Missouri Valley lead with the Bluejays. Central Michigan at Northern Illinois, Saturday The Huskies are the MAC's hottest team. Central Michigan's Chris Kaman is the league's best NBA prospect. This has the potential to be interesting. Texas at Oklahoma State Saturday With consecutive Big Monday victories over Oklahoma and Texas Tech, the Longhorns have moved near the top of the Big 12 standings. Now, however, Rick Barnes team has to play at the toughest venue in the league. Syracuse at Michigan State Sunday Out of the league race, Michigan State now needs to assure itself a spot in the NCAA Tournament field. A victory here would be a start for the Spartans. Kansas at Oklahoma Sunday The Sooners enter this contest one game behind Kansas in the Big 12 standings. For Oklahoma to win the conference title, a victory here is crucial.

A Big Return
Six weeks ago, the question was whether Kansas could survive without forward Wayne Simien. The Jayhawks sophomore had just dislocated his shoulder and Roy Williams' team suddenly had a whole lot less depth up front.

Now, after Simien's return -- and a 21-point, 13-rebound performance Wednesday night against Colorado -- the Jayhawks appear to be better for it. Jeff Graves has gained confidence and experience. Michael Lee saw more minutes than he normally would have.

And it didn't hurt that the Jayhawks went 9-2 with Simien out.

"We're in a position that if -- and I think this is the big question mark -- if Wayne can get his play back close to the level that it was before he got hurt, then I think that our team has benefited over the long run," Williams said. "Because you never benefit from one guy getting hurt. It's not fair to say that, but I think that some other guys have been forced to step up and we've had to count on them, and they've come through."

Simien's return couldn't have come at a better time for Kansas, as the Jayhawks are about to enter an extremely difficult stretch to end the regular season.

First is Sunday's game at Oklahoma. That's followed by home games with Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. The regular season ends with road games at Texas Tech and Missouri.

"I think psychologically it's a nice lift," Williams said of getting a player back. 'It's a little difficult for getting the chemistry straightened out because again people get comfortable with their minutes and their rotation. But over the long haul, if you get those guys back and they stay healthy, it's a great benefit."

Anyone Want To Win The MAC?
Maybe it's predictable that the top of the Mid-American Conference standings is a complete mess After all, it seems as if every MAC coach spent time in the Big Ten as an assistant coach.

"In our own way, we're very similar to the Big Ten," said Northern Illinois coach Rob Judson, a former Illinois assistant. "You have to play well every night. If you don't, you can get beat. A team with not the greatest record can beat anybody. Just ask Purdue about Northwestern."

Preseason favorite and defending champion Kent State recently lost three consecutive games. A Western Michigan team that had several quality non-league wins is 7-6 in MAC play. Ohio began the season with title aspirations, but is below .500 in conference play.

If there's a team that has exceeded expectations it's Northern Illinois. And the Huskies are a group that started MAC play 0-2.

"It was all about survival at that point," Judson said. "We were 0-2 and we had to go to Toledo and they had just won at Michigan State. Then we had to go to Ball State and Ohio. We were looking at 0-5 and 4-11 real quick, and we won all three."

Those victories started the hot streak Northern Illinois is still riding. The Huskies wave won 10 of 11 and are leading the MAC's West Division. But don't get Judson to try to think too far into the future.

Northern Illinois still has two games remaining against Central Michigan and Chippewas big man Chris Kaman. None of the other three games -- at Miami (Ohio) and home against Toledo and Western Michigan -- are exactly easy, either.

"We try not to think about (the future)," Judson said. "We're keeping our mouths shut and we're going to keep working."

Judson thinks his team can get better, especially when it comes to fundamentals.

"This time of the year, teams that are good get better fundamentally," Judson said. "It's not new plays."

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