Author: Kevin Bailey

On Saturday, September 26th Grand Valley State University played host to Saginaw Valley State and Wisconsin Platteville in an early season round robin tournament.  GVSU went 2-0 on the day with SVSU splitting 1-1 and UWP going 0-2.  The following is a quick recap with my reactions from this event. Continue reading “Grand Valley Gauntlet #1 Recap”

Location: Lexington, Ky

NCDA Region: Kentucky

2014-15 Record: 8-12

National Tournament Finish: Lost to CMU in Quarterfinals

2015-16 Captains: Brandon Engelman – C, Colin Hiatt – A, Blake Sears– A

Returning Varsity Players: 19

Players to Watch: #23 Brandon Engelman, # 37 Drew Greenawalt, #6 Ricardo Menchaca, #7 Zach Parise, and #9 Ben Underwood

Overview: 

When scanning the league looking for a team of intrigue, look no further than the Kentucky Wildcats. Continue reading “Season Preview: University of Kentucky”

Location: Columbus, Oh

NCDA Region: Ohio

2014-15 Record: 10-8

National Tournament Finish: Lost to Towson in 1^st Round

2015-16 Captains: Josh Conner – C, Jeff Starr – A, Marshall Winterbotham– A

Returning Varsity Players: 17

Players to Watch: Jacob Hulbert, Brian Peacock, Ben Albert and Nico Wong

Overview:

Ohio State enters the 2015-16 season standing in an interesting place.  Or maybe I should say that nobody is really sure where the Buckeyes actually stand.  Continue reading “Season Preview: Ohio State University”

Location: Towson, MD

NCDA Region: East Coast

2014-15 Record: 7-12

National Tournament Finish: Lost to JMU in Quarterfinals

2015-16 Captains: Jon Shaw – C, Sean Smith – A, Todd “TJ” Givens – A

Returning Starters: 12

Players to Watch: Mike Hinely, Scott Delawder, Josh Grim

Overview:

Towson Dodgeball has had quite the journey as a member of the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association.  The Tigers joined the league along with fellow east coast schools James Madison and Maryland back in the fall of 2011. Continue reading “Season Preview: Towson University”

Before I reveal my list I just want to let everyone know that this list is in no way in order of how these players rank against one another, rather it is just a numbered list. Also after reading this if you have issues with it, don’t complain, and most important don’t text/message me whining and complaining. Write your own list with your own opinions. Thank You. Continue reading “Jonathan Shaw’s 2016 Preseason All American Team”

The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s schedule is a bit different from that of most club sports leagues.  With school gym space always up in the air, teams are unable to have set schedules early in the season.  Since we don’t have a complete schedule of matchups set for next season, I will base my list of “most anticipated matchups” on the premise that any match could happen during the year at some point.  Without further ado, here is my list of the (possible) matchups that I am most excited to see take place next season. Continue reading “Most Anticipated (Possible) Matchups for 2015-16”

One aspect of Division 1 college sports that is not as prominent in the NCDA is recruiting.  Unlike college football, you won’t see collegiate dodgeball teams flying private jets around the country to visit high school athletes and try to persuade them to attend their school.  You won’t see ESPN setting aside an entire day of broadcasting to cover college dodgeball’s “National Signing Day”.  Maybe someday dodgeball will be that large of a scale, but for now recruiting consists of way less than that.

While recruiting is not as noticeable in this club sport that we all know and love, it is still an extremely important part of what we do.  In fact, recruiting is the lifeblood of our club teams.  Without new members, a team will eventually die off.  Bottom line is this: Having a strong recruiting class bodes very well for the future of your program.

Below I have listed the top 10 recruiting classes in the NCDA for this past season.  I ranked these taking into account both the overall quality and the quantity of the groups.

**If a player’s name is in italics upon first reference, that indicates they were one of the top five rookies in the entire nation last season in my opinion. Continue reading “Top 10 Rookie Classes in the NCDA (2014-15 Season)”

Towson’s Jonathan Shaw gave some interesting input on his top 20 for the upcoming season.  Take a look at this great write up by Jon:

(Also: anyone else who wants to send in their opinion on the preseason ranking feel free to send them to ncdadodgeball.com or a member of the NCDA’s content team!) Continue reading “Jon Shaw’s “Way Too Early Top 20””

Winners:

Nick Johnson WKU – Simply put, he ran the smoothest Nationals I’ve seen since Towson joined the NCDA in 2011. Nick, all of the NCDA owes you a big thanks, well done buddy.

Central Michigan University – Central players might still be getting over the Finals loss to GVSU, but when you look back at the fact that exactly 2 years before Central had only brought 10 players to Nationals, and 1 year before got eliminated by University of Kentucky in the first round, you must come to the realization that a Finals appearance is a monumental step in the right direction for this program. Continue reading “Jonathan Shaw’s “Nationals Winners and Losers””

Listed below are my thoughts and predictions sorted by NCDA region, and lastly I have my Day-2 Bracket Predictions. Continue reading “Region by Region Nationals Predictions”