At age 39, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andre Miller is in his 17th NBA season. As a collegian, Miller also helped leave a multi-year impression … on the bank accounts of Western Athletic Conference member schools, including Hawaii.

He was the star of the 1997-98 Utah team that made it to the the NCAA championship game and lost to Kentucky, and three other WAC teams also made it to The Dance that year. The NCAA distributes TV money to conferences in “units” with, generally, one unit awarded for each game in which a team plays. The WAC then cut the units into shares; even schools that didn’t make the tournament, like Hawaii, got a piece.

Since the units are broken into six annual disbursements, UH got a nice chunk of change nearing $100,000 each spring up to 2004 as a result of the conference’s 1998 March Madness presence.

The Rainbow Warriors keep different company these days and after Saturday’s win continue to be strong contenders to cop the ticket to the NCAA Tournament that would come with winning the Big West tournament in two weeks. But, unless it advances to the Sweet Sixteen, UH would make less TV appearance money for being at The Dance than it did back when it watched fellow WAC members participate.

Let’s say Hawaii wins the conference tournament, and then wins in the round of 64. Per the Big West rules, this unit would be cut into 12 shares, with Hawaii getting two, each of the other eight schools getting one, and the conference office getting two. The NCAA estimates each unit will be $265,000, so that means UH would receive around $44,000 each of the next six years.

Wins later in the tournament would be more lucrative, with half of the unit awarded to the conference going to the team that wins the game. That would come out to around $170,000 each spring through 2022 to a school that makes it to the second week of the tournament.

Yes, it’s pretty optimistic — and there’s that not-so-good consolation prize if you get the automatic bid and don’t win. That would be zero … and Hawaii would be 0-5 in NCAA Tournament games.

But just winning the conference and getting to the tournament would be a huge step leading to other rewards, including financial, athletic director David Matlin said.

“Going to the NCAAs helps your ticket sales and your ability to attract sponsors,” he said. “Playing in the (NCAA) Tournament is good for the university. There are tangible and intangible benefits. The exposure is very tangible, and not just for the basketball program. For the university as a whole.”

Not to mention recruiting … which should also get a boost from recent fan support.

Large home crowds in recent games have allowed UH to add $150,000 to its projected revenue (ticket sales and concessions) for men’s basketball for the season, the AD said. According to numbers provided by UH, it still projects a deficit of $350,000 for men’s basketball. But that is an improvement over last year, when it was about $1 million in the red.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction, in a lot of ways,” Matlin said.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.