Men's Basketball season draws prospective students

High school senior Tyler Barnes knows what he’s looking for in a college.

Faith-based organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ and places he can get involved in and make friends are important, Barnes said. He also knows he wants a school with a strong science research program.

He applied to six schools. There’s IU, Purdue and Vanderbilt. And there’s Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And then there’s Harvard.

Like many high school seniors preparing for the transition to college life, he has weighed the pros and cons of each university.

But there’s something else factoring into his choice.

“Ivy League schools don’t really have many sports teams,” Barnes said.

He has been following IU men’s basketball this season and said he grew up as a Kentucky fan.

“I’ve been to IU basketball games, and they’re really exciting,” he said,

Barnes added that the energy level in Assembly Hall is one of the best parts about the games.

Ever since that buzzer-beating three-pointer that secured IU’s victory against Kentucky, school spirit has been a little different, said Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith.

“I’ve certainly seen the enthusiasm at the games increase and of course the excitement around beating both Kentucky and Ohio State,” Goldsmith said. “It has caused a lot of excitement on campus.”

That excitement continued to build as the men’s basketball team entered the week with a 15-4 record.

In the past, some universities have experienced an increase in applicants after a successful men’s basketball season.

After Butler made it to the NCAA Championship Game in 2010, the number of freshman applicants increased from 6,246 in fall 2009 to 6,760 in fall 2010.
That number increased to 9,518 in 2011 after Butler made it to the championship game again.

After IU won its first championship with Bobby Knight in 1976, the number of applications jumped from 9,328 in 1975 to 9,629. In 1977, the number of applicants continued to grow to 10,031.

Goldsmith described the effects of a good season as “publicity you can’t buy.”
“The TV time, people talking about IU, the tradition circling here gets reemphasized watching other sports programs talking about the resurgence of IU,” he said.

“So I think it gets our name out there a whole lot more and makes us more attractive to prospective students.”

However, Director of Admissions Mary Ellen Anderson said it is unlikely the team’s record will in itself affect the numbers too drastically.

“Generally, how many students who apply based on a team is very small,” she said. “But it is an overall excitement students feel about sports when they step on this campus.”

Anderson also said the University already receives a high volume of applications, so further increases are unlikely.

This isn’t to say Anderson isn’t excited about the team’s accomplishments, though.
“The most exciting thing is, especially for juniors, seniors and sophomores, seeing what Tom Crean has done and his enthusiasm and belief in those young men,” she said.

“There were people really disappointed with what happened to the basketball team, and people gave him the opportunity to rebuild the program.”