-Teams attending the tournament went a combined 73-31 last season. They’ve gone a combined 122-60 the last two seasons. That’s a .670 win percentage.
-There are two former National Champions in the tournament (SVSU and OSU) and three former National Runner Ups in the tournament (SVSU, OSU, and UK)
-This is the first “major” tournament of the season. Last year’s first “major” tournament featured three Final Four Teams (Kent State, SVSU, and GVSU) and the 2010-2011 season’s first “major tournament” featured one Final Four team (MSU). Who will make the Final Four from this tournament?
-All five of the teams attending were in the quarterfinals the year before. 3 of the teams attending (SVSU, Kent, and Kentucky) made the semifinals, while both MSU (3-2 to SVSU) and OSU (2-1 to Kent) were one point short of making the semifinals. Only one other tournament this season features a field made up entirely of Quarterfinalists, and that is the Michigan Dodgeball Cup in February.
-In the 2010-2011 season, the Nationals 2010 Runner Up Central Michigan went 3-1, against the 2010 Champion Grand Valley, while finishing their season by defeating them in the championship game. In the 2011-2012 season, Nationals 2011 Runner Up GVSU went 1-2, but ended the Chippewas season. Can Kentucky make it three straight years a team gets revenge over the National Champion?
-Speaking of getting revenge, the Spartans will want some against the Cardinals as well. It was a tale of halves for State vs SVSU this past season- combining the first half of their first match with the second halves of their later two matches, the Spartans would lead the scoring 6-1. However, in the three other halves, the Cards would lead 9-1 themselves. So whichever team can put together a full game should be the winner if this match if it happens. The last time that SVSU and MSU met on a neutral court was at BGSU in the Fall of 2009. The Cardinals would go on to win that game in a close one.
-Kent State has a lot to prove in the tournament. Last season they were able to beat OSU and Kentucky, but their score against the three main Michigan schools they faced was a combined 16-3 against them. However, the Flashes haven’t had a chance at SVSU the past two seasons, and their closest game against one of the big Michigan schools was against MSU (4-2 at East Lansing) so this might be their opportunity to prove they belong.
-Ohio State is known for the excellence in playing slow ball, and it has worked great against the schools attending the tournament. They knocked off SVSU at Nationals 2010 to make the National Semifinals, and since then their point total in matches against teams participating in the tournament is 16-25. The most points in one of those matches they’ve played in is 5 points. So they are forcing teams to play to their tempo, they just need to force more victories. Their average points scored in a match is just 1.45 and they’re allowing 2.23 points per game against foes competing in this tournament. So they need to either speed up their tempo and try something new, or they need to close out points better.
-So who’s the favorite for the tournament? Since the start of the 2010-2011 season, SVSU has the best record at 9-1 vs the other teams in the tournament. However, the Cardinals lost some of their key players, such as Ryan Schian, Jason Stein, Jordan Elliot, Josh Brettrager, and Bryan Janick. It could be Michigan State, who is undefeated vs teams outside of Michigan minus one loss to JMU last season at Nationals, but they too have big shoes to fill. Kentucky could fit the bill, as they return the vast majority of their roster, but they have never beaten a Big Four Michigan school, and with two on the docket it could be tough. Ohio State has the home court advantage, but they have already lost to Kent State this season. Kent State is in the same position as Kentucky, but without the leadership of Ryan Menn and Kyle Fitzpatrick it will be trial by fire for the new leadership group. Basically, the round robin has no favorite. It’s anyone’s game. Could a team come out unscathed? Definitely. But there’s no guarantee. The OSU Round Robin is on October 14th, and it looks like it should be the tournament of the Fall.