March 27 (Bloomberg) -- For a school that's out to escape second-tier status, reaching the third round of the men's national college basketball tournament is like hitting the lottery.

That's why Western Kentucky University is already a big winner in this year's so-called Big Dance, however it fares against pre-tournament favorite UCLA tonight.

Even if the Hilltoppers get beat, you just can't beat the kind of exposure they've garnered in wins over Drake and San Diego. You can only leverage it to the hilt, parlaying a Cinderella run into university-wide gain for the Bowling Green, Kentucky, school.

``This will fast-forward the institution, from a PR and marketing standpoint,'' predicts Athletic Director Wood Selig.

There's reason to be confident. George Mason University's Final Four turn in 2006 yielded a 40 percent rise in out-of- state applications the next year, according to a study by the school's Center for Sport Management. Gonzaga was struggling to attract students when it first made the tournament in 1999. Ten consecutive appearances later, its student body has grown 53 percent to 6,900, and its annual giving has risen 68 percent to $16 million, according to Dale Goodwin, a spokesman for the Spokane, Washington, college.

``Good things can be going on in your house, but it's the front porch that people see,'' says Robert Baker, director of George Mason's sport management center. ``The tournament gets a lot of people to the front door, and many of them will look inside.''

Returns

A study to be published this year in the Southern Economic Journal found more modest returns. Tracking colleges that made the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament from 1983 to 2002, it found those who reached the ``Sweet Sixteen'' regional semifinals averaged a 3 percent rise in freshman applications the next year and Final Four schools a 4 percent to 5 percent rise. Tournament winners had a 7 percent to 8 percent rise.

But much of the study period precedes today's saturation TV and Internet coverage. Nor does it distinguish between the benefits for a high-profile, high-frequency tournament contender like UCLA and a low-profile, infrequent one.

``The impact of success for Western Kentucky is so much more pronounced than for ACC or SEC schools,'' says athletic director Selig.

Entrepreneurs

For a college to reap long-term benefits, an entrepreneurial spirit is required, says George Mason's Baker. His school added staff in the admissions and athletic departments to handle the surge.

Gonzaga signed coach Mark Few to a contract extension and opened a new $25 million arena in 2004 to help continue drawing top recruits. Western Kentucky already has plans to add 150 club seats (at $1,000 a pop) to its arena -- ``striking while the iron is hot,'' as athletic director Selig puts it.

The three schools' common denominator is presidents who hustle like point guards. Alan Merten had already built George Mason from a commuter school in suburban Washington, D.C., to Virginia's largest university, with 30 new degree programs, when the 2006 tournament magic occurred. Gonzaga's president, Rev. Robert Spitzer, was devising financial-aid programs to attract students before the Zags started luring them with basketball glory.

Growth

At Western Kentucky, Gary Ransdell has overseen capital campaigns that have raised more than $200 million to date and a 32 percent rise in student enrollment in a decade as president. The $194 million of construction projects in his tenure include $32 million in arena improvements (including 16 new suites) and $37.5 million for stadium improvements. The latter is in preparation for Western Kentucky's 2009 upgrade to college football's top echelon.

``Jerry doesn't see athletics as the be-all and end-all,'' says Tom Hiles, the school's development director. ``He sees athletics as a means to an end, as a way of developing our brand.''

Western Kentucky will prepare for the move to Divison I by playing powerhouses like Virginia Tech and Alabama in 2008. The Hilltoppers will likely get stomped (while collecting $1.5 million in guaranteed payments), but they'll be on the field with teams from top conferences.

That's where a school aspiring to make a name for itself needs to be, according to Selig. ``You are known by the company you keep,'' he says.

Graduates

Western Kentucky -- or WKU, as its re-branders prefer -- has long played Division I basketball, but its first trip to the NCAA tournament regional semifinals since 1993 is fortuitous. The Cinderella school not only gets a plethora of publicity; it gets to brag on being the only team in the 65-entrant field with a 100 percent graduation rate.

That gives university president Ransdell a ``front porch'' and a talking point. ``Academic success is first priority,'' he says. ``We intend to sustain a high level of achievement and have success on the court.''

One key to sustaining on-court success: retaining coach Darrin Horn. The team's 25-6 record this season and its tournament run puts the 35-year-old on the short list of many bigger schools. His predecessor, Dennis Felton, left to coach Georgia in 2003.

Among the investments Western Kentucky may have to make to leverage its tournament success is re-doing Horn's contract to ensure he stays in Bowling Green.

(John Helyar, co-author of ``Barbarians at the Gate,'' is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column: John Helyar in New York at jhelyar@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 27, 2008 00:01 EDT