You may think "Hollywood Upstairs Medical College" or "Ponzi scheme" when you hear "Florida Gulf Coast University," but that's not fair: FGCU—which looks like what you see above—is very much a real place, with documented students, and classes, and dorms and stuff. Indeed, that picture, provided by Chase Fieler (this guy) to Yahoo, is the view from his FGCU dorm room. That's what his life is like. It's all dunks and beaches and upsets of Georgetown. Is 12 hours of magnanimity long enough that we can start hating this year's Cinderella? No? Then don't read the rest of this.
Here's some things about Florida Gulf Coast University you may not have known [emphasis mine]:
It's in Ft. Myers, a South Florida vacation spot where the beaches sport some of the softest sand in the world.
FGCU may be a directional school, but it's the Gulf Coast part that gives it a recruiting tool most others don't have. Dorms there overlook a beach on a lake, just a few minutes from the Gulf of Mexico. That's where junior forward Chase Fieler lays out "four or five times a week." He knows most of the lifeguards, and water sports are free for students, including wakeboarding, canoeing, paddle boarding and tubing.
"If you don't see it here," Fieler says, "you can't picture how good it is."
Oh, soft sand? Water sports? Mexico? Keep talking, I'll just be collecting sticks, for the fire, as the vengeful Lord has cursed us with endless winter in the dark and frigid north. Surely the students at Florida Gulf Coast University must struggle with the typical stresses of college life—
It's easy to relax at FGCU. Fieler says he often studies at the beach, sitting in a lounge chair with the sound of the water lapping near his feet. He even spent a little while on the sand on Selection Sunday.
"The water was a little cold," he deadpans. "There were a couple clouds, so we didn't get as tanned as we planned."
"Often studies." FGCU may be in its second year of tournament eligibility, but the Eagles are already lying to the media like a seasoned NCAA program.
Life's Literally A Beach At FGCU [Yahoo]