Being unranked, being an underdog, is OK with University of Wisconsin women's openweight rowing coach Bebe Bryans.

That's because the Badgers head into the NCAA Central Sprints, held today and Sunday in Oak Ridge, Tenn., buoyed by a more tangible reality.

They are peaking at just the right time.

"No question about it," Bryans said.

UW is coming off a second-place finish in the Big Ten Conference meet, where it trailed Michigan State, but knocked off ranked teams such as Ohio State and Minnesota.

Now comes a demanding precursor to the 12-school NCAA Championships, which are May 30 to June 1 in Sacramento, Calif.

"We are peaking," Bryans said, "but it's a challenge because we have three championships in six weeks.

"No matter how fast you are at Big Tens, you still have to be faster at Centrals, because Centrals is the last time to qualify for the NCAAs.

"So it is an interesting challenge, and we have to be at our best for centrals and yet know that we can maintain that and get a little bit faster for the NCAAs."

The Badgers are looking to return to the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in the last five years.

UW coaches spent the week piecing together lineups for the two eight-oared shells and the one four-oared shell that will compete on Melton Hill Lake.

Bryans compared her tinkering to the process of a baseball manager filling out a lineup card.

"Eights and fours, although they seem pretty much the same, are different boats and there's a difference in the way they move," she said. "There's a difference in the pickup. There's a difference in the load and all that stuff. So someone may be better in a four than they are in an eight. We need three fast boats."

How each boat finishes determines a team score and who advances to the NCAA Championships, which have been conducted since 1997.

"You need everybody to be fast, everybody to be tough, everybody to be strong," Bryans said.