Tomorrow in East Lansing, Michigan, two of the Ohio teams will begin their 2017-2018 season with Michigan State’s home tournament. This is no small task, as the four Michigan teams in attendance are the same who filled the final four at last years Nationals. Let’s take a look at the Ohio Region. Continue reading “Ohio Preview: A Short Look at Each Team”
Category: Previews
Michigan Region 2017-18 Season Preview
College Dodgeball, welcome back… you’ve been missed! The 2017-18 season will be underway soon. In the meantime, let’s kick off a series of articles previewing each NCDA Region one by one. Today I’ll briefly preview what to expect this season in the Michigan Region. Enjoy:
2017-18 MVP “Short List”
The start of a new season of dodgeball is just around the corner. As we gear up for another year of rubber balls flying at our face at 70mph, let’s take a quick look at what players are on my MVP “short list”. There are so many great players in the league this year. In fact, I think we enter this year with more established names than we do most seasons. With that said, there is a top tier of players who have a legitimate shot to win MVP this year, and they are the only ones who made it on my short list. In no particular order, here are a few players to keep your eye on this season:
Michael Riley (Central Michigan)
I predicted this man would be 2017 MVP at the start of last season, and while he didn’t get the #1 spot due to a rough first semester for himself and his team, Riley did come on strong in the second half of the season. That strong finish to the NCDA season, along with a great summer of Elite Dodgeball, gives me reason to believe he is once again poised to be in the MVP race in 2018. Continue reading “2017-18 MVP “Short List””
A Closer Look at the Region
A Closer Look at the Region- (Midway Conference)
Next year should be a great for our region of the league. Just two years ago there were only three teams: DePaul, Platteville, and Nebraska. Now we have eight teams in our area (UW- Eau Claire, UW-Whitewater, UW-Platteville, DePaul, Northern Illinois, North Park, Nebraska, and Minnesota) and it won’t take long for these teams to be competitive. I interviewed each team and here is what they had to say. Continue reading “A Closer Look at the Region”
All is Fair in Love and War
It’s time to take a break from the craziness that has been the Captain’s Page and all of the rule proposals popping up. Let’s make dodgeball great again! This weekend the University of Akron will be hosting The War, which is the largest and last tournament of the 2016-2017 regular season.
11 teams from 5 different states will come to Akron, OH to compete in The War. Needless to say, it’s a pretty big deal, with a lot of implications on seeding heading into Nationals, take a look at an article by our VP Zigmas Maloni, Status Quo Ante Bellum, on the possible exchanges. There has also been a lot of talk off the court heading into this weekend, which I’m sure will translate into some exciting on court performances.
Status Quo Ante Bellum
The state existing before the war
| Rank | Rating | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 56.593 | GVSU |
| 7 | 45.474 | MSU |
| 8 | 43.786 | Kent |
| 10 | 42.489 | VCU |
| 11 | 42.484 | PSU |
| 13 | 41.547 | BGSU |
| 16 | 38.704 | Ohio |
| 17 | 38.078 | DePaul |
| 19 | 37.893 | CSU |
| 22 | 37.459 | BW |
| 26 | 36.737 | Akron |
I’ve marked this as opinion, as I include stuff we don’t track statistically.
A technical upset is when a lower rated team defeats a higher rated team. The first day of the War includes so many closely rated opponents that it is incredibly unlikely we will see every match predicted correctly. In our Gonzalez system’s current, straight success rate, the higher seeded team will win four of five games. However, this is less likely to apply as the rating gap between teams increases. Any of GVSU’s scheduled games are unlikely to result in a technical upset. CSU vs Akron is much fuzzier; each team has near identical ratings, being only 0.157 difference.
That said, these are the kinds of matches that are a test to the system. The wins and losses and overtimes (8.19% chance of occurrence) at the end of the day will better determine each team’s rating going into Nationals. We’ve never had this many great, even match games for Nationals before. I’m excited to see the results. Continue reading “Status Quo Ante Bellum”
Nationals Preview, Best Case Scenarios: East Coast
Nationals is only a few weeks away people! Not that anyone needed me to tell them that, but as many would expect that means it’s time to start previewing all potential facets of the crazy weekend to come. As a warning, these will be filled with a lot of optimistic thinking but, based on current standings, here are what I think the best case scenarios are for each team on the East Coast heading into Lexington: Continue reading “Nationals Preview, Best Case Scenarios: East Coast”
Chicago Dodgeball Combine
Well, it is the only tournament this weekend and once again it is between two heavy weights DePaul and Platteville. They are playing each other for the 7th time this year, which I believe is the most between any two teams in the league. Both teams will be playing in the Chicago Dodgeball Combine. It will be a double header with the first game starting at around 12:30p.m. Let’s take a look at the teams. Continue reading “Chicago Dodgeball Combine”
King of the Hill Preview!
The following was written by Zachary Parise of the University of Kentucky
Just as I said in my last article, this semester is looking to be one of the best in recent NCDA history. We are only a month away from the biggest tournament of the year and this season has already seen more matches, and more upsets than ever before. This weekend, Western Kentucky University hosts the very first King of the Hill tournament. WKU will play host to Akron University, North Georgia University, and the University of Kentucky. Along with the standard three matches for each, UK and WKU will be playing for the Kentucky state cup for the first time since 2011. Let’s take a look at each team and what to expect. Continue reading “King of the Hill Preview!”
Ohio Dodgeball Cup Review
This year’s Ohio Dodgeball Cup was nothing short of exciting this past weekend. I don’t believe that anyone could have predicted that outcome. Congratulations are in order for the Ohio Bobcats, your 2017 Ohio Dodgeball Cup Champions! I have to be honest, I thought it would be a long time before I would ever say that! But they did it, and they deserved it.
Zanderthon Throw-Down 2
Zanderthon Throw-Down 2
Well, it is the most anticipated tournament of this semester. Two great teams, the DePaul Dodgeball Society and Platteville Dodgeball Club will duke it out once again for the sixth time this year on Saturday, February 25, 2017. There will also be some UWP alumni dodgeball players joining the fun that day. I also want to give these alumni a shout out for being a part of and starting the club ten years ago. Your determination to play dodgeball has led to me and others on the team making many new friends from around the country. It should be interesting to see how these games turn out. The games this year have been all over the place from an overtime in Nebraska to a blowout game at DePaul. The last few matches have been more competitive and DePaul is showing that they can hang in there and cause teams problems. With that said let’s take a look at the match ups for the day.
ODC Preview Gets Anonymous
By Kyle Shaw: President and Captain of the Reborn Miami Dodgeball Club
We’ve had two this week, why not a third to continue the hype? ODC is bringing 9 teams to Newark, Ohio this weekend. With more teams than any state, this looks to be a great tournament with a lot of teams having a legitimate shot at taking home the trophy. I wanted to get captain’s opinions on each of the teams, but minus all of the normal fluff you hear, so I had them give me their brutally honest opinions under cover of anonymity. With there being 3 new teams coming in, there is obviously a little less to people have to say about them, but nonetheless, here are the captain’s unfiltered thoughts about the 9 teams coming to battle this Saturday:
ODC Preview
The following was written by Adam Hynes
Well now that one ODC preview is up, why not have more? I mean, MDC basically had ESPN, CNN, FOX, CBS, Facebook, VCU’s Twitter jockeys and everyone in Michigan cover their games so another article for ODC can’t hurt at all. As most of you know, ODC will be held at a neutral location this year in my hometown of Newark OH. No homecourt advantage for any team should make for an interesting day of dodgeball, and on top of that, I was able to get a trophy back into the mix this year as well. Teams will be playing for that along with bragging rights for the year so I am more than excited for the 25th to come. Below I give some of my predictions for ODC this weekend along with a small team write up. I will go team by team against their match up for each prediction. In no particular order we start with:
Ohio Dodgeball Cup Preview
By Adam Pfiefer, President and Co-Captain of the Akron Dodgeball Club
The time has come once again. This will be the 7th Annual Ohio Dodgeball Cup Championship. For some teams, this championship means quite a bit. In the past three years we have seen the Ohio region grow from four teams all the way up to where we sit today at nine teams! There has been much growth along with much decline in the different programs throughout Ohio. Although maybe not as talked about as the all-important Michigan Dodgeball Cup, this tournament has seen some amazing game play and unpredictable results in the past two years.
This section will be where I as an Ohio player stick up for the Ohio teams as a whole. Although the Michigan teams and others who have had long term success in the league, i.e: James Madison and University of Kentucky, do not sleep on these Ohio teams. SVSU learned this last year in the second round of nationals when they fell to THE Ohio State University. A few of these teams could potentially pull an upset at Nationals 2017. Do not make the mistake of thinking you have a free ride out of the first round this year.
For the first time the ODC will be played at a neutral location in Newark, Ohio at the local YMCA. This was all made possible by Adam Hynes, current player and student for Ohio University. What does this mean? NO HOME COURT ADVANTAGE FOR ANYONE. Although OU still has some advantage knowing what courts to expect, no one team has played on these courts and will have that luxury a home team gets when competing. Also new this year for ODC is the trophy. The pictures look great and every team is hungry to be the first and take that thing home with them.
Let’s get real now. The Ohio teams all love each other, for the most part at least. But it is not all pictures and smiles. On the court these teams do not pull their punches. Every person wants to win and have the bragging rights for the next year in Ohio. Taking home the cup will also be a huge inspiration going into nationals in April. Time to stir the pot.
How Can Each Michigan Team Win MDC
By Kenneth Mize (SVSU)
Every team has a chance to win this tournament for the first time in a long history of MDC’s. Numbers 1-3 and 7th ranked teams will be in attendance. Each team is on a different path that has led them to this tournament. This is a short article describing where these teams are and what they need to do to win.
