Coastal Carolina University's game against UNC Ashevillle for the Big South championship title Saturday will play out on the national stage.

This time last year CCU's basketball team was on the brink of being a part of March Madness.

"I'm really excited I went to the game before last year and we lost and I was kind of disappointed but hopefully this year we can go to the tournament," said CCU student, Richard Jones.

The last time Coastal appeared on the coveted bracket sports fanatics obsess over was in 1993.

The Chanticleers have an opportunity again and the game will be broadcast in households across the nation. Including many who may not be familIar with the school.

It's priceless publicity.

"Athletics is very much the front porch of your institution your university and I think if you have a successful athletic program it will help your university grow," said CCU Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek.

Anytime Coastal makes it into the national spotlight, school officials say interest is almost immediate.

"We had a group in Chicago that was recruiting for our fine arts department a couple weeks ago when the usa today article came out and they were inundated at their booth that day, ran out of all their materials and did not have enough time to audition the students that were interested in coming coming to Coastal," added Yurachek.

"You get more students eager to come because when we do good in sports more kids tend to come," added Ron Mishoe.

Once the requests for more information come in, the school is given the opportunity to sell itself.

"Even though it's not as big as USC or Clemson you can get a lot of help from the teachers personally."

Yurachek says the NCAA men's basketball tournament is the pinnacle of college athletics.

Win or lose, more interest in this campus is likely.

You can watch the game Saturday afternoon on ESPN 2.