Last season was a miserable one for Ohio State Coach Nancy Darsch. Her Buckeyes were supposed to follow their Final Four run of 1992-93 with more success. But it was not to be.

The Buckeyes finished 14-14, seventh in the Big Ten, primarily because they could not find anybody to take some of the scoring pressure off All-America forward Katie Smith.

But this season, Smith has the strong supporting cast that was missing a year ago. Forward/center Peggy Evans, a transfer from Tennessee, is sixth in the Big Ten in scoring (16.4 points per game) and is providing the Buckeyes (11-6, 4-3 Big Ten) with a force in the paint. The senior is also averaging seven rebounds.

"She has definitely given us a presence at the post that we lacked seriously last year," Darsch said.

Darsch also said she was happy with the play of forward Lisa Negri. The 6-foot-2-inch junior averages a consistent 8.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in Big Ten play.

With each of the conference's top nine scorers playing forward, is there any doubt what position holds the Big Ten's best?

Leading the way is Smith, with 22.6 points per game. Smith is also one of two leading candidates for Big Ten Player of the Year honors. The other? Another forward -- Penn State's Angie Potthoff. The redshirt sophomore is fourth in the conference in scoring, first in rebounding, first in field-goal percentage, fourth in steals, sixth in free-throw percentage and eighth in blocked shots.

Wisconsin at Purdue (7:30 p.m. tomorrow). When asked about Wisconsin's early season success, most of which came on its home floor, Purdue Coach Lin Dunn was not exactly ready to hand the Badgers the Big Ten title.

"I want to see what they can do when they play at the Purdues, at the Penn States," she said.

This weekend, Dunn gets exactly what she wants. The Badgers (13-3, 6-1) top the Big Ten standings, but they have yet to be challenged like they will be this weekend. They venture to Purdue (11-6, 3-3) to take on a No. 22 Boilermaker club anxious to cleanse itself of a 78-64 drubbing it suffered at Penn State last weekend.

Should the Badgers get past Purdue, they will not have much time to celebrate. They hop on a plane for a Sunday showdown with Penn State in Rec Hall, where the Lady Lions are 35-0 versus Big Ten opponents since entering the league two years ago.