OMAHA, Neb. — It's the kind of irony that is reserved for the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The University of Wisconsin, a team devoid of stars, was sent to a city that, for one week anyway, is teeming with headliners. Despite being the highest seed — a No. 3 — in its NCAA pod, UW is being overshadowed by O.J. Mayo of USC and Michael Beasley of Kansas State, freshman scoring sensations and soon-to-be NBA lottery picks.

One of the two will test UW's top-ranked defense in the second round should the Badgers get past 14th-seeded Cal State Fullerton Thursday in their tournament opener.

In the other pod at the Qwest Center sits No. 1 seed Kansas, a team of stars whose rabid fans already are storming across the Kansas-Nebraska border in numbers large enough to make everyone else in town feel like a second-class citizen.

Somehow, that all seems appropriate for UW, college basketball's most overlooked and under-appreciated program.

Though they won the Big Ten Conference regular-season and tournament titles, the Badgers are given a slim chance to reach the Final Four.

Many of the national experts think that if Mayo or Beasley doesn't get UW in the second round, Georgetown or Kansas will do the honors in the Midwest Regional next week at Detroit. Some even think Fullerton will knock off UW.

The Badgers politely beg to differ. They believe they can fulfill senior Brian Butch's long-ago prophecy and hoist a third trophy this season, the one you get for winning an NCAA title.

"Anything is possible," senior Michael Flowers said. "If you believe and you work for it, I think you're putting yourself in a great position for success. So far, we've put ourselves in a great position to go deep into the tournament."

But can a system-oriented team without an All-American, without a slew of future NBA players, without a true go-to scorer, win an NCAA title?

According to many trends, UW does possess the ability to win it all.

The Badgers have tournament experience, an impenetrable half-court defense and balanced scoring between the frontcourt and backcourt. They've won 10 games in a row and are beating opponents by almost 15 points per game.

Unfortunately, UW's greatest strength — its offensive balance — also might be its greatest weakness.

Absent a star who can make something happen when an opponent stifles their swing offense, the Badgers might not have enough firepower to win six tournament games.

Indeed, two trends converge to virtually eliminate UW as a potential NCAA champion.

The first is its lack of future NBA players. Of the past 19 NCAA champions, 18 had at least three NBA-bound players.

And the one that didn't — Syracuse in 2003 — had two future first-round draft picks.

UW has a handful of players who will get NBA looks, but most of them will have to cross the Atlantic to make a living at basketball.

The second trend is team scoring average. The past 19 champions have scored more than 76 points per game. The Badgers average 67.3, which could signal trouble for them if some opponent gets hot from the 3-point line.

Of course, having a star doesn't guarantee anything. A year ago, UW had an eventual first-round pick in Alando Tucker and lost in the second round to unheralded UNLV. But even though UW won 30 games and achieved a No. 1 ranking last year, the current Badgers, who have won 29 games and are ranked sixth, think this team is better-equipped for a long tournament run.

"It's not taking anything away from Tuck and Kam (Taylor) and those guys, but I think this is as good of a team as we've had here in a long time," senior Greg Stiemsma said. "It's going to be fun to see how it plays out. We're not going to back down from anybody. Not everybody is giving us (much) of chance or (showing) confidence around us, but that doesn't matter to us. As long as we believe that we can, know we can, we're going to prepare for it and hopefully take care of business."

If they do take care of business, the Badgers will be bucking a lot of trends.

More likely, they lack the firepower to win an NCAA title, though in a regional where only Kansas has overwhelming talent, a Final Four berth is a realistic possibility.

Contact Tom Oates at toates@madison.com or 608-252-6172.