Despite two losses to the UC Irvine men’s basketball team this season, the University of Hawaii athletic department had tens of thousands of reasons to root for the Anteaters in the NCAA Tournament.

“Our whole conference did,” said Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell.

By getting to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before being knocked out by Oregon on Sunday, the Anteaters will enrich the coffers of UH and seven other teams by at least $14,000 each per year over a six-year period from 2020 to 2025.

The NCAA’s $1 billion-per-year basketball fund pays the 32 participating conferences based upon how many teams they have in the tournament and how far they advance. The “units” are accumulated and paid out over a revolving six-year period. The money comes from TV rights fees and ticket sales.

A “unit” this year is worth $280,800 or $1.68 million over the six years and escalates by the year — for example, paying $289,000 in 2020, $297,100 in 2021, etc.

A team that reaches the Final Four can earn its conference upwards of $8.4 million over the six-year cycle. Last year the Atlantic Coast Conference’s representatives accumulated 22 units worth about $36 million over the cycle.

Funds are paid directly to the conferences and it is up to each conference how it divides the money among its members. In the Big West the team that produces it gets the lion’s share along with the conference office, with other members apportioned smaller pieces of the financial pie.

Since UH’s 2015-16 NCAA Tournament appearance is still in the cycle, the Rainbow Warriors, along with portions earned from earnings produced by Cal Poly and UC Davis, stand to receive approximately $210,000 in the current pay period, Farrell said.