Friday, men’s basketball senior forward Matt Maresca graced the front page of the USA Today. The Toppers were also on the front of USA Today’s sports section.
By Sunday, the Women’s NCAA tournament had tipped off in Diddle Arena, and with every trip up and down the floor by the players, cameras showed Western’s trademark red towel.
All of it made Western noticeable at a national level over the weekend.
But if Athletics Director Wood Selig has his way, it won’t be the last time that Western will be represented on a national scale.
“I was just very, very proud that the guys had acquitted themselves so well in front of a national audience,” Selig said. “Boom! There we are in USA Today. I don’t know what the value of that is. I know we couldn’t afford institutionally to buy the front page of USA Today, but it’s a nice return on our athletic investments with our men’s basketball program.”
Selig almost didn’t see Maresca on the front page of USA Today when he stepped right over a copy of the newspaper at 4:30 a.m in a hotel and had to do a double-take before picking up a couple of copies.
The 2007-08 Toppers making it to the Sweet Sixteen, along with this season’s near repeat, has raised the program to a national contender with possible future student-athletes who now know exactly who Western is, Selig said.
Western is one of very few teams in the country who had its games televised nationally, which goes into 23-24 million homes, more than any other Sun Belt team, thanks to the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network and Direct TV.
Mayor Elaine Walker said the mentioning of Bowling Green and the Western community by commentators is a tremendous benefit to the community.
“It’s going to make people aware of our community,” Walker said. “When I met with the vice president of the PGA when we were bringing in the Junior Ryder Cup I said, ‘You bring people in here once, and they’re going to come back.’ Because there’s nothing quite like that Bowling Green hospitality.”
According to all four coaches who were in town visiting Western’s facilities for the first two rounds, Western knows how to put on quite a show.
Ball State coach Kelly Packard opened her post-game statement with a heart-felt appreciation to Western.
“(Diddle Arena) is a great facility,” Packard said. “They have great women’s basketball fans here in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We felt like a princess, quite honestly, since we’ve been here.”
NCAA officials even called Selig to tell him that assistant athletics director and tournament manager Les Forsythe was as good of a tournament manager as there was in the country, Selig said.
If the NCAA is impressed enough, then it can only increase Western’s chances of the same opportunity down the road, and that’s something that Selig will keep his fingers crossed about for now.
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