AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Well, a whole lot of brackets got busted this week. After the first round of March Madness basketball, the NCAA estimates only about 36,000 perfect brackets remain of the more than 34 million brackets they're tracking. Some of that bracket-breaking may be due to the McNeese State University Cowboys out of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The No. 12-seeded team pulled off an upset yesterday, beating out the No. 5 seed, the Clemson Tigers.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Hunter has it. Hunter at the buzzer. It's good. The cowboy up - McNeese has its first ever NCAA tournament victory.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
That clip is from Westwood One Sports, and as you heard the announcer saying there, it is the Cowboys' very first March Madness victory in the team's 52-year history. Coach Will Wade, in a post-game press conference, said the team's success is a huge win for the university on and off the court.
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WILL WADE: Our enrollment's up 3%. Our applications are up 10%. And we've gotten freaking $25 million worth of free advertising in the last couple of weeks. I mean, our stuff's going to go through the roof. It's going to change our area. I mean, we've broken every record in the book. This was the last one to get. And we want to keep this going.
CHANG: It's the beginning of a Cinderella story in this year's tournament. But the Cowboys have been grabbing lots of attention for another reason - the team's 22-year-old student manager, Amir Aura Khan, who's majoring in sports management at McNeese.
KELLY: Khan is the ultimate hype man. He exudes swagger, as you can hear in his signature catchphrase, which he recounted to CBS Sports.
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AMIR KHAN: If they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court, I'd put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers.
KELLY: He famously carries a boom box as he leads the Cowboys out of the locker room, rapping along with the players.
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LUD FOE: (Rapping) I dropped out of school, started selling dog food. Kept the biggest pistol even though I was a small dude. I'll get your...
CHANG: (Laughter) He spoke with ESPN after that momentous win yesterday.
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KHAN: You know, I never expected any attention really as a manager, you know? So to receive all the love and support I've received over the last few weeks - it means a lot to me, you know?
CHANG: During the interview, a teammate handed Khan his giant boom box.
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UNIDENTIFIED ATHLETE: We got the boom box out now.
KHAN: Yeah, it is. Yeah, it's right there, you know?
CHANG: That boom box, by the way, is black and yellow, branded by Buffalo Wild Wings, because Khan is the first-known student basketball manager to get name, image and likeness deals, with endorsements from Buffalo, TickPick and Insomnia Cookies.
KELLY: And it doesn't stop there. His teammates were also showing off T-shirts with Khan's face all over them, Amir in big letters at the top and socks featuring a mosaic of Khan's smiling face, which the McNeese State Cowgirl Kickers dance team wore during their routine at a recent game.
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CHANG: Khan and the Cowboys continue their tournament run tomorrow, as the team faces off against the fourth-seeded Perdue Boilermakers, giving them a chance to continue their Cinderella story and dance all the way to the Sweet 16. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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