Spin master: How a Wichita DJ soundtracked AfterShocks’ TBT title run
When Conner Frankamp buried a 3 early in The Basketball Tournament championship game, Koch Arena shook.
But it wasn’t just the shot or the roar of 9,000 fans that pushed the moment over the edge. It was what happened a second later.
As the whistle blew for a timeout, the unmistakable guitar riff of “Seven Nation Army” dropped, perfectly timed. No delay. No hesitation. Just pure adrenaline.
That’s the work of Win Crabtree, better known as his stage name DJ 4THE WIN. A 38-year-old Wichita native and former platinum producer, Crabtree wasn’t just spinning music. He was orchestrating a feeling. And for two hours Sunday, he owned the rhythm of the Roundhouse during the AfterShocks’ 82-67 win over Eberlein Drive.
“It’s an art,” Crabtree said. “It’s not just picking a song and pressing play. You have to have a feeling for the crowd, and it’s all about timing — the right moment, the right feel.”
The art behind the aux cord
When Crabtree is locked in, fans feel it.
The chants hit harder. The building pulses. The break between plays becomes part of the show. That’s no accident. That’s the craft of an in-game DJ who knows how to tap into the emotion of a crowd and elevate it.
Every timeout is a puzzle. Did the home team call it? Are they up or down? Is this a momentum shift or a chance to cool off? It’s up to Crabtree to diagnose the situation in real time, then the real work begins.
“I treat a timeout like three parts,” Crabtree said. “The start is pure energy, pure hype. You hit them right away with something big. Then the middle is more interactive, you play something where the crowd has to clap their hands or sing along. And then coming out of the timeout, I have all these little loops of drums and stomps and claps to ramp the energy back up.”
It’s a rhythm he’s refined since 2021, when he began DJing at Wichita State games. He’s studies what works in the Roundhouse. It’s a delicate balance between creating chaos and managing it.
The surefire crowd-igniters?
“Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes tops the list, but “Rock and Roll Part 2” by Gary Glitter, “Joker and the Thief” by Wolfmother, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC and “Shots” by LMFAO also are fan favorites.
“If you go with any of those five, you’re getting Shocker Nation hyped,” he said.
With the AfterShocks players taking care of business on the court, Crabtree said he felt a responsibility to raise his level and give the team the best home-court advantage possible.
But it’s not just about what songs you play. It’s when and how you play them.
“Every second matters,” he said. “If you don’t hit the moment, the energy can dissipate — and all that hard work the players just did kind of goes to waste.”
The tools of the trade
To keep pace with a live basketball game, Crabtree operates like a producer at a live concert.
He uses a two-laptop setup: one is his DJ rig, the other running 7 Point Audio, a custom system that lets him instantly pull up curated folders and scenario-based playlists — a method he credits to DJ EJ, a fellow arena DJ.
He’s built a deep library of 30-second loops and crowd-interaction tracks. His background producing for artists like Flo Rida and Rick Ross gives him a creative edge. He’s not just queuing up songs, he’s crafting moments.
“I was used to making five-minute songs for artists,” Crabtree said. “Now I just need 30-second clips.”
And he uses them strategically. If the other team calls a timeout to cool off the home crowd, Crabtree knows he has to push the energy even higher.
Some arenas hit play on a single track and let it ride for the whole timeout. Not Crabtree. He’s mixing in several different tracks, often custom made, to enhance the experience.
“That first part might be cool and that’s if they bring it in on the right part,” Crabtree said. “If they don’t, then you’re losing that energy. It doesn’t feel the same. I always pride myself in creating that energy because that’s what I feel like creates that winning atmosphere.
Turning up the heat in the Roundhouse
Sunday wasn’t just another gig.
It was the biggest crowd Crabtree had ever played to inside Koch Arena. And unlike regular WSU games, which included sponsor spots, in-game ads and a more rigid structure, the TBT championship game gave him a blank canvas.
And he painted it with noise.
“I’ve done concerts, produced records, but that was different,” he said. “I’ve never had that kind of control over the pulse of a crowd. And it was in my city. It was surreal.”
Even Nick Elam, creator of the Elam Ending who was in attendance, noticed. After the game, Elam sought him out to say he’d never paid attention to in-game music before, but on Sunday he was “on the edge of his seat” the entire game.
“He told me, ‘That’s how every basketball game should be,’” Crabtree said. “That meant a lot.”
Wearing a custom shirt with his DJ name on the back, a gift from Doc Green’s, Crabtree was easy to spot after the final buzzer. Fans came down to the court to thank him. It was a long way from the studio booths in Atlanta and Los Angeles where he started his music career, but it felt like exactly where he was supposed to be.
Crabtree graduated from Wichita Heights in 2005 and launched an audio production company around the same time. He reached platinum status. Then the pandemic hit and he came home. In Wichita, he’s found a new identity: bringing sports venues to life.
Since then, he’s become the in-house DJ for the Wichita Wind Surge and WSU men’s basketball.
But Sunday was a different experience.
“I’ve done some cool stuff in my career,” Crabtree said. “But it was never me controlling the pulse of a crowd like that. I’ve done concerts and produced songs before, where you get told good job, but Sunday was so much more special because it felt like on that day we all did a great job.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 5:09 AM.
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