But the tournament is about much more than cash.
Imagining people around the country seeing "Mount St. Mary's" on office pool brackets delighted school administrators.
Asked if he'd expect to see a spike in applications as well as fundraising, Soller said: "I guess one hopes for all of the above. This is our bicentennial celebration this year, so you probably couldn't have written it much better."
Coppin's basketball success helps the school establish its identity. "A lot of people don't know who Coppin is," said James Camphor, the alumni association president. "We instill in our students never to give up, hold your head up, and our men's team did that this year and the alumni are proud of them."
The Maryland schools need only look at George Mason University in Virginia to appreciate how the NCAA tournament can be the gift that keeps on giving.
After George Mason's men's basketball team, a heavy underdog, advanced to the 2006 Final Four, admissions inquiries soared 350 percent, out-of-state applications rose 40 percent and the school estimates it got nearly $7 million in overwhelmingly positive free media coverage.
Applications - driven heavily by out-of-state candidates - increased 22 percent from 2005-2006 to 2007-2008, according to a study by Robert Baker, director of the school's Center for Sport Management. The study was called "The Business of Being Cinderella."
Baker found that alumni became more engaged with George Mason after the tournament, and UMBC officials said they were discovering the same thing.
Said Hrabowski: "We'll get more applications and more students looking at us. This sends a message that there is great campus spirit in addition to the rigorous academic program."
Television is a key. UMBC played its first nationally televised game in last week's conference championship and will get heavy exposure Friday playing Georgetown.
Such exposure - and winning - shows potential recruits "that there are a lot of good programs out there in the mid-major level that have had success," UMBC coach Randy Monroe said. "You don't necessarily have to go to a big school to have success."
Of course, it's not all good.
Qualifying for the tournament means UMBC must spend thousands on such things as printing up 500 more media guides, transporting students to and from sites, receptions and people working on the Web site.
But it comes with the territory.
jeff.barker@baltsun.com
