Next on our release of top regional performers is the the All-East Coast team for the 2018-19 season. This year’s eligible teams under consideration were Towson, James Madison, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Penn State, and West Virginia. This list consists of the top performers within the East Coast region, as selected by their peers.
Continue reading “All-East Coast 2019”Author: Hunter Ford
All-Michigan 2019
Next on our release of top regional performers is the the All-Michigan team for the 2018-19 season. This year’s eligible teams under consideration were Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley State, Central Michigan, Michigan State, and first year member Western Michigan. This list consists of the top performers within the Michigan region, as selected by their peers.
Continue reading “All-Michigan 2019”Final Standings – 2018-19 Season
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2019 Season, we have 47 technical upsets in 270 ranked matches (82.59% success rate) across 32 events. Additionally, there have been four JV matches entered into the Records.
The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for the Nationals 2017, 2018, and 2019 bracket.
Continue reading “Final Standings – 2018-19 Season”Brutally Honest Nationals Preview
The following was written by Towson Alum – Jonathan Shaw
For a lot of people in this world, reflecting on their lives can be a difficult thing, and can lead to conclusions that are against their own personal opinions. Growing up in the sticks in Carroll County, Maryland taught me how to become an adult at a very young age. I’ll never forget a conversation I had with my dad when I was about 12 years old. We had just gotten done around five to six hours of mulching our front yard. He looked at me and said “Son, make sure in life you always tell it like it is. Don’t add fluff to make people feel better. Always shoot it straight to someone.” That’s pretty much how I’ve tried to live my life up to this point. That’s how I tell it to my middle school students while I’m teaching them about Health, how I tell it to the J.V. baseball team I help coach, and how I’m going to tell it in this article. These are my 7 Brutal Truth’s heading into NCDA Nationals 2019.
Saturday Nationals Schedule
ICYMI: Our Saturday schedule has been released on our Facebook Page and is now available here on the website! We will also have a live scoring sheet available on Google Sheets which will include scores throughout the day, current win-loss records, and even up to date seeding for Sunday’s bracket play. There will be livestreaming for matches also available through Facebook Live through the NCDA’s Facebook Page if you’re able to watch.
Continue reading “Saturday Nationals Schedule”Mad City and NCDA Reach Partnership for Nationals 2019 Streaming
The NCDA will be partnering with Mad City Events and Mainstream Media, LLC for this weekend’s College Dodgeball National Championship Tournament held at Grand Valley State University!
Games will be broadcast live on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch from 8AM-4PM EDT on Sunday, April 14, 2019.
We are confident that this weekend’s top-notch production will have an extremely positive impact on our league, and the sport of dodgeball as a whole!
Pre-Nationals Standings
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2019 Season, we have 40 technical upsets in 216 ranked matches (81.48% success rate) across 31 events. Additionally, there have been four JV matches entered into the Records.
The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for the Nationals 2017 and 2018 bracket.
Continue reading “Pre-Nationals Standings”Rule Proposal: 28 ft Attack Line
The following was proposed by Hunter Ford and Colby Briceland for the 2020 season.
Proposed Rule Change: Move the throw line to 28 feet
Rationale: Create a more competitive NCDA format by speeding up pace of play, create a better visual product for new members/spectators, increasing scoring, and more opportunities for all players to succeed
Our gameplay has dramatically improved over the past few seasons due to multiple rule changes including the switch to 12v12 and the implementation of clean blocking. The throw line is another area where I believe the NCDA can further improve to once again solidify us as the most competitive and exciting rule set amongst all dodgeball leagues in the world.
- Advantages:
- Shorter throwing distance reduces accuracy errors, leading to a higher percentage of balls on target
- Closer distance to baseline provides more opportunity for quick counter throws from baseline
- Closer distance to baseline increases neutral zone space, with more opportunity to run down opponents on counter strategies
- Balls become closer to each team on the opening rush, which can provide more opportunities for kills at early stages of the match
- The more available opportunities for kills can lead to a decrease in stalling tactics due to kills becoming a higher probability than previously
- Easier set up, for those unaware, on a full size basketball court there is a line marked 28 feet from the baseline already representing the coaches box, this would reduce errors in setting up throw lines in favor of an easy accurate measurement
- A closer throw line can improve player catching ability, and develop more skilled dodgeball players for the long term
- Faster pace of play leads to more scoring, also less waiting time on the sideline for players already out
- Disadvantages:
- A closer throw line favors teams with strong throwers, which can reduce catch rates, leading to more dodging and less results from each throw
- A closer throw line for gyms with close walls provides more bounce back opportunities
→ That being said, the closer throw line encourages more kills/counters which could reduce teams utilizing bounce back strategies
A closer throw line slightly boosts the potential for injuries including but not limited to face shots and damaged fingers
In the event that this rule passes and gameplay legitimately suffers, we will always have the ability to change this back. For the sake of developing our players and improving the product on the court, I feel this is a rule that we need to implement at the start of the 2019-20 season.
Standings as of 2019-04-02
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2019 Season, we have 43 technical upsets in 226 ranked matches (80.97% success rate) across 31 events. Additionally, there have been four JV matches entered into the Records.
The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for the Nationals 2017 and 2018 bracket.
Continue reading “Standings as of 2019-04-02”The Big Three Collide at Towson
This is perhaps the most loaded tournament field to date not named the Michigan Dodgeball Cup (MDC). #2 Towson will play host to #1 Grand Valley State and #3 James Madison in one of the last regular season events of the year, appropriately titled the ‘Nationals Send-Off’ tournament.
All three teams rank in the top three of the current Gonzalez Standings, and have consistently been at the top of the charts of the content team’s Power Rankings as well. The three schools have a combined 52-6 record this season, with five of those wins/losses coming against each other. Additionally, all of them rank within the top 10 for strength of schedule this year.
While it would be easy to go on and on about the eye popping numbers each team brings to the table, let’s focus on what has gotten each of these teams to the pinnacle of college dodgeball thus far.
Rule Proposal: Ball Re-Entry
The following was proposed by Kevin Bailey.
If a ball exits the court on one team’s side of the neutral zone (and does not re-enter the court on its own), it must be returned in-bounds at that team’s baseline. If a ball exits the court through the neutral zone (and does not re-enter the court on its own), it must be placed on the spot in which it went out of bounds. No exception is made for a ball out of bounds but within reach for a player.
*If a live player possesses a ball at the same time as a designated ball retriever, the ball is awarded to the player.
Rationale:
Too many times (on courts with a close wall especially), a ball thrown by an opponent exits the court on a team’s side but not within reach. When this ball is the only one on that side, it becomes a major stall ball game, and almost always results in 10-15 seconds of standing still, then a shotclock violation call. Oftentimes this will repeat itself after the opponent comes up to make a solo throw after the balls over. At WAR, there were a few games with double digit stoppages due to this exact thing.
This rule will help speed up the game, by taking away some unnecessary stoppages. It will also help decrease bounceback stall ball in the scenario mentioned above. Also, taking away the ambiguity of what is/isn’t reachable helps simplify the out of play rule and will cause for less disputes.
Overall, this isn’t a major rule change that will have a massive impact on the game, but it will help in some cases to make the game much more watchable. Not to mention, more enjoyable to play.
Take a look at the image included in this post for a basic description of different scenarios.
Standings as of 2019-03-26
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2019 Season, we have 43 technical upsets in 220 ranked matches (80.45% success rate) across 29 events. Additionally, there have been four JV matches entered into the Records.
The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for the Nationals 2017 and 2018 bracket.
Continue reading “Standings as of 2019-03-26”Standings as of 2019-03-05
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2019 Season, we have 38 technical upsets in 202 ranked matches (81.19% success rate) across 27 events. Additionally, there have been four JV matches entered into the Records.
The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for the Nationals 2017 and 2018 bracket.
Continue reading “Standings as of 2019-03-05”Standings as of 2019-02-19
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2019 Season, we have 31 technical upsets in 179 ranked matches (82.68% success rate) across 24 events. Additionally, there have been four JV matches entered into the Records.
The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for the Nationals 2017 and 2018 bracket.
Standings as of 2019-02-12
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2019 Season, we have 30 technical upsets in 169 ranked matches (82.25% success rate) across 23 events. Additionally, there have been four JV matches entered into the Records.
The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for the Nationals 2017 and 2018 bracket.