Tiny Davidson College, whose basketball team faces the massive University of Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament, will foot the bill for its students to attend the game in Detroit.

In an e-mail message to students Wednesday, President Tom Ross said trustees offered to pay for tickets, travel and lodging for the Midwest Regional semifinal Friday night. The offer also includes tickets to Sunday's regional final -- win or lose.

The team may need the cheers. Madison, home of the 42,000-student University of Wisconsin, is about 425 miles from Detroit. Davidson, in Mecklenburg County, is about 650 miles away and has only 1,700 students.

The schools represent opposite academic poles. Wisconsin, the state's flagship university, has a populist bent and a tradition of radical politics. Davidson, a private school, charges $41,000 a year, and employees do the students' laundry.

The road trip money will not come from Davidson's endowment, spokeswoman Stacey Schmeidel said. "At least one person on the board stepped up and said, 'I want to do this for the students,' " Schmeidel said.

By Wednesday night, hundreds of students signed up, so many that officials were scrambling for tickets and buses. They will leave Friday morning and return between 4 and 6 a.m. Monday -- just in time for class.

"Students," Ross wrote, "please consider going to the game ONLY if this is, academically, the right decision for you."