The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association is not yet to the point where participating schools can be categorized into “conferences” like what the NCAA has done with college athletics. For now, every team can identify with a certain region, instead of claiming membership to a “division” or “conference”. As it stands in the NCDA right now, there are five regions: Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and East Coast. Here is my power rankings of the NCDA’s five regions:
1. Michigan
The Michigan region should be loaded with talent once again this season. Michigan will be headlined by defending national champion Grand Valley State, and national runner-up Saginaw Valley State. Aside from those teams, Michigan State seems poised for a breakout regular season with all but two of their starters returning. Central Michigan returns all of their play makers from a year ago, and should be more competitive in this stacked region. Beyond the traditional top four teams from Michigan, Siena Heights will look to build on their inaugural season that saw them earn three victories. Lastly, if Davenport is able to field a team, it will interesting to see how they compete in their second year as a member of the NCDA.
Predicted Order of Finish:
1. GVSU
2. SVSU
3. MSU
4. CMU
5. SHU
6. DU
2. East Coast
The East Coast region is the 2nd best region in the NCDA in my opinion for several reasons. First off, James Madison is coming off a “Final Four” appearance (the first ever by an EC team), while Maryland and Towson both have displayed major improvements over the last year or two. Rounding out the East you have Virginia Commonwealth and Penn State. Both of these teams could break out in 2014-15. Overall, looking at the East Coast, it is surprising how quickly some of these teams have ascended to their current level of competitiveness. Keep in mind no team from this region has been around for more than three seasons, so their is a lot of upside for the East Coast as a whole.
Predicted Order of Finish:
1. JMU
2. UMD
3. TU
4. VCU
5. PSU
3. Ohio
This region is a bit of a mystery heading into the 2014-15 campaign. Last season’s undisputed #1 team Kent State, will be replacing most of their top players from the past few seasons. Expect them to start the year a bit slow but start playing like the Kent State we know by mid season. Ohio State has possibly the most potential of any team in this region, and my gut feeling is that the Buckeyes end up having a more successful year than Kent State. These guys from OSU are talented, but still young. Bowling Green and Miami (Oh) have been the lower tier teams in Ohio for several years now. Don’t anticipate either of these schools to break into the the group with OSU and Kent, but don’t be surprised if both Miami and BGSU are more competitive squads in 2014-15.
Predicted Order of Finish:
1. Ohio State
2. Kent State
3. BGSU
4. Miami (Oh)
4. Kentucky
This region gets another year in the spotlight, after Kentucky hosted Nationals 2013, the Hilltoppers from Western Kentucky get to play host in 2015. The best teams from Kentucky should once again be UK and WKU, and it should be a fierce battle for bragging rights between those two schools. Northwestern State an North Texas are the other two teams in the region. Neither team is creating much buzz heading into the 2014-15 NCDA season.
Predicted Order of Finish:
1. UK
2. WKU
3. NSULA
4. UNT
5. Illinois
The Illinois region has been arguably the weakest region in the NCDA in years past, and that might not change this season. Wisconsin Platteville will likely be the best team from this region once again, with DePaul coming in at #2. After those two teams, the region drops off quite significantly. Both Nebraska and St. Ambrose failed to make the trip to Nationals 2014, and will need to make huge stride if they want to get to the level of competitiveness of the rest of the NCDA.
Predicted order of Finish:
1. UWP
2. DePaul
3. UNL
4. SAU
