Ari Franklin and Mark Schnitzer just wanted some companions to watch Illinois men’s basketball games with in Austin, Texas.

Both are 2009 Illinois graduates and have run the social media and marketing for the Austin Illini Alumni Club since 2012.

On March 17, known around the country as Selection Sunday, they got their wish.

Franklin was in his apartment recuperating from a long weekend, while Schnitzer was out on the town celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. They’d heard from experts that the Illini could draw anywhere between a seven and a 10 seed for the NCAA tournament. Still, their chances of hosting Illinois in Austin for its first two rounds were slim.

“Mark called me up right after and he was so excited,” Franklin said before the Illini’s 63-59 loss to Miami in the third round.

Sure enough, the selection committee answered Franklin and Schnitzer’s calling, and the two immediately went to work planning an alumni event for those traveling to Austin for the games.

“We haven’t gotten much sleep over the last week,” Schnitzer added.

Until the alumni event on March 22, the Austin Illini Club was rather unorganized compared to other cities’ Illinois alumni groups. Before Franklin and Schnitzer took over the marketing effort, a board of older gentlemen held the responsibility of reaching out to Austin’s roughly 1,400 Illinois alumni. The group has been in existence since 2007 but just recently started using social media as a tool to notify alumni in Austin about events.

Twitter and Facebook were crucial for reaching younger audiences and expanding membership. Before then, the older board emailed UIUC accounts registered to alumni that had been provided by the University, but many had already been deactivated or rarely checked anymore.

Franklin and Schnitzer were determined to make the group better than how they’d found it. Austin is an area rich with jobs, specifically for engineering companies. That makes it an attractive destination for recent Illinois graduates. When Franklin and Schnitzer arrived in Austin, they searched for a community of Illini but found untapped potential.

“We’d had a couple watch parties in the past, but the tournament changed everything for us,” Schnitzer said. “It’s been a lot of work, but we love putting it all together. It makes it all worthwhile.”

Between 400 and 500 people showed up to the Austin Illini’s postgame party at The Chicago House following the Illini’s win against Colorado on March 22. Illinois Director of Athletics Mike Thomas, Illinois Sports Radio Network play-by-play and color commentators Jerry Hester and Brian Barnhart were all in attendance. Schnitzer organized a performance from the Illinois band and cheerleaders, which led the crowd of supporters in 10 minutes of fight songs. The party was so successful, the owner of the bar asked Franklin and Schnitzer for a list of demands to become the club’s home bar for watch parties.

“We’d always moved around the city and that was often cause for some confusion,” Schnitzer said. “Now we can have a place with a pull-down screen that everyone can congregate for games.”

The bar even hung an Illini flag from its flagpole right beside its door, prompting a girl in orange and blue gear walking on nearby 6th Street to enter the party without knowledge that anything had even been planned.

Schnitzer and Franklin know their main challenge is ignorance. Their Facebook page has reached 196 likes and 146 people follow their Twitter page. It’s still well short of the total amount of Illinois graduates within a 30-mile radius of Austin, but it’s a start.

The Austin Illini also hosted a pregame event before Illinois’ loss to Miami on March 24. While several Illini fans vacated the Austin area after their run in the tournament ended, Schnitzer and Franklin are enthused about the direction of their club.

They should have several new friends to grab a beer with and watch Illinois basketball for years to come, but they’ll still be looking for more to come and join them.

Ethan can be reached at [email protected] and @asofthesky.