| Vector,
I agree with you. It's not about the basketball success per se, its about exposure to people who might never have heard of the school.
Case-in-point: Davidson College.
We're from San Diego. My son is a freshman at Davidson. My daughter will follow him there next year. With the exception of a few of his classmates and others exceptionally well-atuned to the college millieu, no one around here had ever heard of Davidson. "Where is that?" Do you mean Davison?" "Dickinson?"
Between a recent pre-tounament front-page feature in the New York Times and all the exposure they've been getting from their huge back-to-back upsets, no one asks anymore. The amount of the exposure - from TV, newspaper and internet - is breathtaking.
But, rather than simply knowing that Davidson has a legitimate basketball program, they also get to learn about the competitive admissions, academic rigor, liberal arts orientation, honor code culture, charming surrounding community - and, of course, free laundry service.
This sort of blanket coverage of colleges and universties is normally limited to to negative stories or tragedies. Duke Lacrosse. Virginia Tech. It is rare that a school gets this kind of constant favorable drumbeating and there is no amount of money that can buy it.
The application process for the Class of 2012 is over - admissions decisions are being sent out in days. It will be interesting to see if Davidson's "yield" exceeds projection - which could present an interesting challenge for such a small school where everyone is guaranteed on-campus housing. | 
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