Overpopulation knows no boundaries. Just look around. People are everywhere, and our spot on the globe isn’t even close to the worst case.

It seems discouraging: humans lurking in every nook and cranny, taking our jobs, our parking spots and our air. But why can’t a predetermined foe simply just be viewed as a precious friend in the making?

As a member of the Big West, UCSB is a player in one of the least populated conferences in the nation; yet, for some reason, it feels the need to resist potential friends.

On the national scale, the elite who call the shots and determine the Division I, D-II and D-III have been even more hesitant to allow those on the smaller end of the school spectrum to move up into the D-I ranks.

Until just recently, the NCAA has made such an act a process more difficult than penetrating a Detroit Piston defense, implementing sanctions such as postseason ineligibility and scholarship restrictions on teams making the jump.

However, on April 29, the NCAA D-I board of directors passed Proposal 2003-13, softening championship eligibility standards for institutions transferring to D-I. Finally, the jump will be a little easier to swallow for athletes committing to schools like UC Davis, who will enter the Big West next year.

While this is a step in the right direction for the NCAA, the probationary period it requires of schools who are trying to give their student athletes more appropriate competition will hurt more people than it will help.

When UC Davis enters the Big West, it will not be able to compete for an automatic postseason berth. Conversely, Utah State and Idaho will leave the Big West next year, but they will still be eligible for an automatic berth to NCAA postseason tournaments should they win a conference title.

It seems misguided to prevent a team that will be a staple at the head of the conference for years to come from earning a postseason bid while allowing schools ditching the conference a chance to help themselves before they move on to another conference.

Make no mistake; while it is the Big West’s decision to allow Utah State and Idaho to play in the postseason, the NCAA needs to shoulder the responsibility for the Aggies’ problem. If a UC Davis team finishes first in its conference, there is no reason why it should not compete against the best of the best in the nation.

Not to say that it will.

If Davis is good enough for us, I say its good enough for the nation.