Before we move any further, let's examine the Big West conference and UCSB's fellow members. The Big West consists entirely of California schools, primarily located in the Southern California region. Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, UC-Davis, UC-Irvine, UC-Riverside and Pacific (Stockton) are UCSB's conference competitors. Seriously, if your Coach Williams and you're recruiting players, how do you not get the most talented athletes in the Big West Conference? Don't believe me? Let's look at each school in depth, just to drive the point home (and because I always love to pour salt in an open wound).
Cal Poly: They are one of our closest competitors location wise. Sure, it's in a pretty location, but, is it better than UCSB? I think not.
Cal State Fullerton: First off, CSUF is in the middle of the greater LA area. Do you like smog, concrete and traffic? Didn't think so.
Cal State Northridge: See CSUF
Long Beach State: Ok, LBSU could be a close competitor. However, I've been on their campus (sort of), and it's not that nice. Long Beach is a nice area, so they can give UCSB a run for their money. In the end, though, is their campus on the beach? No. We win.
UC-Davis: Last time I checked Davis was pretty close to Sacramento. It's a college town. I like Pluto's. I dislike the smell of manure. Again, their location is nice, but the manure and non-beach location seal the deal.
UC-Irvine: Irvine might be able to give UCSB a run for their money. Unfortunately, like all of our lesser opponents, UCI also has an image problem. UCI is close to the beach, but not close enough. Being close to Newport Beach makes this a close one, eventually, though, UCSB prevails. Regardless, the other reasons of TGM will show UCSB as the clear cut favorite.
UC-Riverside: Do I really need to write anything here?
Pacific: See UC-Riverside
See? While there are some close competitors here (Cal Poly and UCI), none of our competitors have anything close to the location we have. While each area has a nice downtown, cool bars, nice city, etc..., UCSB is far superior. A beach is part of our campus. This really isn't a hard sell. Furthermore, has anyone visited Isla Vista lately. I'm sure some people don't like the idea of living around thousands of college students in 2.2 square miles, right next to the beach and campus, but those are the people who go to Pacific. Each day that you are in Santa Barbara you get to see the Pacific Ocean. You can walk five minutes to the beach. Everything you need is basically accessible by bicycle. If you can't sell the beach and location to potential recruits, don't worry, somebody else could do it for you.
Before anyone leaves me a hate comment after this post, remember, this is only about location. Sure, it's a fairly superficial analysis, but when you're looking to meet your potential girlfriend, great personalities don't count much and the looks are what matters. There are so many other reasons that UCSB is superior to their conference, that Coach Williams should have no excuse for missing the NCAA tournament.
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