The Wichita State men’s basketball team is in the final stretch of a historic season.

With a 27-0 record, the Shockers have a realistic chance of finishing the regular season undefeated — something that hasn’t been accomplished since St. Joseph’s University did it in 2004.

With every win, the buzz on campus grows and college basketball fans around the nation become more aware about WSU’s basketball program.

Hardly a night goes by that WSU is not mentioned on Sports Center.

Still, the sentiment among students seems to be the men’s basketball team isn’t receiving the attention or respect it’s due.

Among those is WSU senior Amber Crumly.

“I mean, I still hear more about KU and K-State. And their basketball standing isn’t nearly as great as ours,” she said.

The Shockers may not command the attention or television ratings that programs like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Syracuse have, and that’s to be expected.

But how do they stack up against other mid-major schools that have been in comparable situations?

When talking about successful mid-major programs, the first schools that come to mind are Virginia Commonwealth University and Butler University.

In 2010 and 2011, Butler reached back-to-back national championship games. VCU, like Wichita State, made an unlikely run to the Final Four in 2011.

In the year following their tournament runs, VCU and Butler played in seven and nine nationally televised games respectively.

This season, WSU has 11 nationally televised games, including a whopping seven on ESPN2.

So what’s causing WSU to receive more exposure than other mid-majors have in the past?

It’s probably not the coaching star power. Yes, Gregg Marshall has proven to be one of the best coaches in the nation, but former Butler coach Brad Stevens is now the coach of the Boston Celtics and VCU’s Shaka Smart is always coveted by big programs looking to replace a coach.

It can’t be the fact that the Shockers are still undefeated—television schedules are determined before the season starts, so they’d be playing in nationally televised games even if they had a few losses.

It could be the nation’s recent infatuation with “Cinderella stories” — underdog schools that make it further in the tournament than expected.

Every year, more and more non-powerhouse schools are making unexpected tournament runs, and every year, these teams send basketball fans into frenzy.

Surely ESPN and CBS are noticing this trend and taking advantage of it by slotting WSU into primetime nationally televised games. It’s their way of capitalizing on the success of the most successful mid-major program at this moment.

Or maybe it’s because WSU has three highly exciting NBA prospects on their roster, something many mid-major programs can’t boast. People love to watch potential NBA players, and no players from VCU’s Final Four team were taken in the NBA draft; two Butler players, Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack, were drafted.

Whatever it is, WSU student Brett Moorhouse has taken note of the level of attention they are receiving as a mid-major program.

“I’ve been relatively surprised by the amount of coverage ESPN has been giving them recently,” he said, “The whole city seems to be rallying behind them. I hear someone mention the Shockers on the radio almost every day. The attendance at their away games has been impressive.”

Regardless of the amount of attention WSU receives, this season suggests Gregg Marshall has Wichita State basketball primed to not just be a flash in the pan or a temporary Cinderella story, but a program that can compete at the highest levels year after year.