Jaguars building from NCAA exposure

INDIANAPOLIS -- Odell Bradley sometimes drives the long way from his apartment to campus so he can admire a 14-by-45-foot billboard of himself.\nThat ego boost is just one of the benefits Bradley is starting to reap from playing Division I basketball with an emerging IU-Purdue University-Indianapolis program.\nTwo years into an expansive advertising campaign, the Jaguars are using their success on the court to generate interest off of it.\nTheir first NCAA tournament appearance last year, coupled with billboards and bus signs, is helping one of America's alphabet schools improve its image in a crowded marketplace.\n"I'm not going to sit here and say, 'Hey, I don't like it,'" said Bradley, named Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Week Monday after averaging 36.5 points in two wins. "To see your face on a billboard like some Indiana Pacer is a good thing."\nEven Reggie Miller struggles for face time with Bradley and teammate Dannorris Harvey these days. Stroll through downtown Indianapolis, and the pictures of the Jaguars' seniors cover newspaper boxes and stare down nearby office buildings.\nSchool officials say they needed the ads to separate the program from the shadow of established programs such as Indiana and Purdue, though IUPUI is an extension of the two schools.\nValparaiso, a 3-hour drive from IUPUI's campus, has long ruled the eight-team Mid-Continent Conference, of which the Jaguars are a member.\nCloser to home is Butler -- just a short bus trip away. Depending on the day, that bus might have a photo of IUPUI senior Matt Crenshaw draped on its side.\nCrenshaw's 16-footer with one second left in the Mid-Continent title game gave the Jaguars a 66-64 win over Valparaiso and got them into the NCAA tournament last year.\nCrenshaw, lightly recruited after spending six years in the Navy, even took his two young children -- both of whom live out of state -- to see his downtown billboard.\n"They wanted to see it, so I took a picture and sent it to them," Crenshaw said, smiling sheepishly.\nIUPUI has been in constant flux since moving from Division II to Division I in 1998. The school hired a New York consulting firm the next year to come up with a new nickname, dropping the long-standing Metros for the Jaguars.\nA fight song was added in 2000, but until beating Valparaiso last March, most students and faculty didn't even know the words.\nTheir first 20-win season also brought an NCAA berth, more money and much needed exposure.\nThe breakthrough was almost too much for coach Ron Hunter, whose midcourt belly flop has become a treasured highlight. His stunt gave the burgeoning campaign that had enjoyed only modest success a much-needed boost.\nHunter, who nearly quit the business two years ago after bleeding ulcers and a near heart attack, talked to Cleveland State officials last spring. Instead, he signed a contract extension to remain at IUPUI through the 2010-11 season.\n"It's different than if I'm at Miami or if I'm at Ball State and they've already had their tradition," said Hunter, who became a hot coaching candidate after last season. "This is like my own child. When you put all your blood, sweat and tears into something, you want to reap all the benefits."\nThe school now has designs for a new, off-campus arena expanding the seating capacity from 1,800 to at least 8,000. And while Bradley might not play in that building, the thrill he gets from spotting himself in traffic, he says, comes close.\n"That's something like probably when I get 60 or 70 I'll look back on and say, 'I was on a billboard before,'" Bradley said. "I might not get on another billboard ever"