The second ever Final Four appearance in 2013 was colossal for the university. Wichita State men’s basketball was on the second biggest stage in collegiate basketball since 1965, which proved to be a great promotion for the university and all of its athletic programs. The year following the Final Four appearance, the number of prospective students nearly doubled from 2,874 to 5,120, according a recent article from KSHB.com by Christa Dubill. And WSU has the basketball team to thank.

In the article, Bobby Gandu, director of WSU Admissions, told them he believes the recent success of the men’s basketball program helped significantly with the branding of WSU.

“People now recognize us at college fair,” Gandu told KSHB. “People may walk by our booth at a college fair and say, ‘Oh, it’s Wichita State. The Shockers!’ Everybody knows who that is. But then that opens the door to a conversation that probably wasn’t going to occur prior to the basketball success.”

Also worth noting is what Dubill wrote in her article. She said that “in the months following the team’s loss to Louisville, the university commissioned a study to look into the value of all the mentions they’d received nationally: online, in newspapers, and on television.The conservative estimation for the value of all the talk and mentions turned out to be more than $555 million.”

That’s astounding.

As a student-athlete here on the track team, I can attest to the notoriety of the basketball program aiding as a recruiting pitch.

On my official visit, one of the many things that was shown to me during my stay was the massive picture of the tip-off at the Final Four game on the way to the coaches offices. During my visit we talked about the basketball game and how WSU was now on the map, and how great it would be to do our part in track and field.

It wasn’t just myself, many of my teammates talked about succeeding on the national level, like the basketball team. It’s a great recruiting pitch and a challenge for a new standard to uphold for athletes here at WSU. Most times when friends ask me what school I am attending, they seem to recognize where WSU is now. In previous years when I was considering transferring most of my friends would respond with “Where’s Wichita even at?”

Since then, things have obviously changed here in Wichita. The university is seeing a gigantic climb in revenue and athletics have a new standard to uphold.

We can thank the basketball team for that, too.