Walking off the Bryce Jordan Center court and into the tunnel leading to the visitor's locker room, Alando Tucker and his Wisconsin teammates were whooping it up, counting their blessings for their position in a Big Ten season full of surprises.

"We're in this, man," Tucker yelled after Wisconsin's 82-62 win over Penn State Saturday, slapping hands with another Badger who smiled and reminded his teammates that Michigan State was upset by Minnesota earlier in the afternoon.

Although Tucker has reason to be excited about the Badgers lurking a game out of first place, the fact that just two conference games separate the top six teams might bring him back down to earth.

In what some argue is the best and deepest league in the country, parity and home-court advantage seem to be the catch phrases among Big Ten coaches.

"[The conference is] real strong, that's obvious," Steve Alford, coach of first-place Iowa said. "We know if we don't play well, we're gonna get beat in this league, I don't care who it is we're playing."

Thus far in conference play, the home team holds a commanding 39-19 advantage, or a 67 percent success rate. In the Big East, the Big Ten's competitor for the title of strongest conference, that rate is 62 percent.

If a Big Ten team cannot hold serve at home, then it is unlikely to find success at all. No Big Ten team in the last 14 seasons has lost more than one league game at home and gone on to claim a share of the title.

Among the top six teams in the conference, the Big Ten home record is a combined 31-5, but among those same teams the collective conference road record sits at 14-23.

Iowa has been the most successful away team, recording a 3-3 record away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Penn State has the worst home record at 1-5, but the program's biggest win in years, surprisingly enough, came on the road.

Two weeks ago, the line between the conference haves and have-nots was as distinct as Illinois coach Bruce Weber's collection of orange ties and blazers. But now, after a slew of upsets from what a fortnight ago qualified as the Big Ten's four horsemen of mediocrity, every team is on guard.

Minnesota beats Indiana. Penn State knocks off Illinois. Purdue whacks Wisconsin and then Michigan. Northwestern upsets Iowa. The Golden Gophers topple Michigan State.

"You're not going to have four or five teams where you just roll through them, and that's being proven this year," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said.

So that, along with its poor road record, provided good reason for Wisconsin to celebrate walking out of the Jordan Center with a victory.

Too excited even to close the door to the coaches' dressing room, the entire Badger coaching staff could be seen slapping hands and cheering.

But, as veteran Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and the other conference head men know, little stays the same from night to night.

"The league challenges you to not be able to stay in sync, nothing stays the same," Monson said.