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About hiller87

Former Captain of the MSU Club Dodgeball Team, former NCDA Chief of Content.

Spartans Anticipate Nationals Brackets

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The field for Nationals, specifically the opponents for State, are starting to be more clearer with Nationals only two months away. MSU’s stellar play so far this season has virtually assured them of at least a two seed in the pool play portion of Nationals, and could even get them a one seed. They are currently #3 in the Nation, despite only going 1-2-1 at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup in February. With the BEAST II yet to be played still however, they will likely be somewhere from 4th to 6th in the standings going into Nationals. The current projection is that there will be either five or six pools for Saturday, meaning MSU may be cutting it close on being that one seed.

It will likely come down to State or #6 Saginaw Valley for the last spot if there are only five pools. If State isn’t a one seed, they’ll have a tougher game first day than they’d originally expected. There are a clear cut top six teams in the league right now who are considered to be National title favorites, then there is a middle tier of teams that are considered dark horses. If there are only five pools, then one pool will have two of those top six teams in it, and that’s something MSU would prefer to avoid. Outside of their 4-0 loss to UK in the first game of the season, MSU is 3-4-2 against the other top teams in the country, with all 4 losses coming by one point. Against the rest of the competition they’re 7-0, giving up a total of three points.

If MSU does get a one seed, they will avoid playing the other top tier teams first day. While that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to sleep through Saturday of Nationals, it does mean that they’ll have an easier chance to go undefeated and have a top four seed for Sunday. If State gets the #6 overall seed, and thus ended up being a two seed, they will likely draw either UK, JMU, or Kent State on Saturday. While MSU has beaten Kent State twice this season already, they have improved greatly since they played last. JMU and Kentucky have both beaten MSU once this season. The Spartans had to go through that last year, when they played JMU on the first day and the loss to the Dukes threw them into the same half of the bracket as GVSU, CMU, and SVSU.

Potential two seeds that the Spartans could draw as a one seed include OSU, Maryland, WKU, and Towson. MSU defeated the Buckeyes 4-1 in Columbus earlier in the season and beat WKU at Nationals last year, but have never faced either Maryland or Towson. Central Michigan is also a potential two seed, but it would be unlikely that they would be placed in the same pool as MSU.

If the season were to end today, and there were no upsets in the pool play, then MSU would be looking at the #3 seed overall in the Sunday pool of the bracket. They would play the winner of RIT and one of the teams who hasn’t played a game this season, which would lead into a battle with likely SVSU in the National Quarterfinals. This year’s Nationals will be more hotly contested, and there is more parity, than the last few years. Whereas last year the case that the four best teams were in one half of the bracket could be made, this year there is no “clear cut” top four teams. There’ll be tough matchups for everyone starting in the Quarterfinals.

2013 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview

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mdc-2013The oldest and most prestigious regular season tournament for the NCDA will meet again this Saturday at IM West. Hosted by the #4 Michigan State Spartans, the tournament also includes #5 Grand Valley, #6 Saginaw Valley, and #7 Central Michigan.

MSU is coming off a slightly disappointing result at the 2013 Chicago Dodgeball Open, where a 14 man squad couldn’t take down the #3 JMU Dukes. However, the last time the team had a full 20 man roster, they were inches away from defeating Grand Valley for the first time in school history. State also got great news in that Alex Acton (MSU #72) is cleared to play and ready to go for the tournament. With the probablility that Eric Paul (MSU #9) will be out for the weekend, Acton’s return comes at a good time for MSU. He’s a do-it-all player who has historically played well against GVSU. It’s going to take a team effort however to take down the three foes they’re getting this weekend though.

The first opponent for MSU is Central Michigan, a team the Spartans dispatched 7-1 in November. However, that Chippewa team was playing with 10 men, and their best all-around player, Bryce Corrion (CMU #00-A) wasn’t playing up to his best. The key to MSU’s success in the first match against CMU was their catching. CMU may have the best catching lineup in the country, but the Spartans turned the tides on the Chips. After a disastrous first point in which State threw a handful of catches, MSU turned it around and began to play smarter and catch the Chippewas’ solo throws. If CMU has a full 20 man roster, or even 15, they could be tough for MSU. But if MSU plays as a team, then they should be able to handle CMU.

After that Michigan State will take on the Cardinals of SVSU, who will definitely want payback for their loss earlier in the season to MSU (5-0 at Ohio State.) Led by Max Siler (SVSU #38-C), the Cardinals have had an up and down season so far, starting the season off 0-2, but they’ve won 4 of their last 5, including a victory at home over GVSU. The main weapons for the Cards are Spencer Jardine (SVSU #77) and Jordan Elliot (SVSU #11), their two best power throwers and in Jardine’s case, a top five player in the NCDA. The Spartans will need to limit their damage and force the other players to either beat them or make mistakes, and MSU needs to capitalize on their mistakes.

The Spartans’ last game will be against GVSU, a team they have never beaten. They also have never been as close to beating them as when they played last, a 3-2 OT loss that came down to literally inches. It was the first time the Spartans had forced overtime on the Lakers, and only the second time they’d held a lead on GVSU in the last five seasons. State will need to play a complete game to beat GVSU, and all 20 players will need to play to their ability. The three captains for GVSU are the main threat to MSU, but they are definitely not the only threat. The Lakers go 20 deep with talent, and can produce outs many different ways.

Successful Trip to Chicago for the Spartans

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cdo2013-759x500The #4 Michigan State Spartans (9-3-1) took the four hour drive to icy Chicago, IL, to play in the 2013 Chicago Dodgeball Open. They would face the #9 Moody Archers (2-3-0), #17 Nebraska (0-4-0), and #3 James Madison (9-2-1). MSU brought only 14 of an allowed 20 players, making it a tough go for them, but they were able to go 2-1, beating Moody 8-0, Nebraska 11-0, but losing 2-1 to JMU.

The first game was against Moody, and the Archers only brought 11 players themselves. Without some of their star players, MSU would rally and get some clutch catches, along with some accurate throws to get kills in transition and along the baseline and jump out to a 4-0 lead at the half. They picked up the next point quickly in the second half and then began to play around, not wearing on their arms and just having fun. Jake Ochoa (MAD #3-C) had some great catches for the Archers, but it wasn’t enough as they were out caught and out thrown by the Spartans. MSU is now 4-0 against Moody, scoring 27 points while giving up 0.

Last year, Michigan State rolled over the Huskers 14-0 at the CDO. This year was much of the same, as the more athletic MSU team was able to dictate the pace and force Nebraska into tough situations. MSU caught like crazy, and they were able to pick off unprotected Nebraska players. MSU would win the game 11-0, although the game was called early.

The Spartans wanted payback on the Dukes for their loss at Nationals 2012 pool play, but they wouldn’t get it today. JMU would use the rebounding advantage created by the odd gym (one side had a wall near the court, the other had a nook where the balls would die and not rollback) and they kept MSU on their baseline. With the Spartans playing too much defense and not enough offense, JMU was able to pick off Spartan after Spartan in the first half. They took a 2-0 lead into the half, despite the best effort of the MSU players. State would bounce back however, and score the next point in a hard fought back and forth battle, in which John Luzenski (MSU #12) got a clutch catch that triggered a slew of clutch plays by MSU, and a final kill by Mike Van Ermen (MSU #6). There was only 8 minutes left on the clock after that point, but MSU wouldn’t roll over. They knocked JMU down to five players in about 3:30, but gave up all the balls to do so. With JMU having 10 balls, they could use their stellar defense to block all the solo throws the Spartans would do. MSU eventually whittled JMU to three players, but the buzzer would end on the game, meaning a JMU victory.

Overall it was a good experience for the Spartans, giving valuable playing time for some players as well as being a fun trip to Chicago. Michigan State next plays at SVSU on January 27th, and then plays at home for the Michigan Dodgeball Cup on February 9th.

2013 Chicago Dodgeball Open Preview

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The #3 Michigan State Spartans (7-2-1) will be traveling to Chicago to take on three foes next weekend- Moody Bible Institute, Nebraska, and James Madison. The Spartans will be without one of their star players in Alex Acton (#72) as he is dealing with a broken hand, but will still be one of the favorites to come away with the title. MSU won the title back in 2006, and will be competing in the tournament for the third straight year. MSU has dropped a game in Chicago the last two seasons (to CMU and GVSU) so going 3-0 could be huge for Michigan State.

State’s first game is against Moody Bible, a team that could upset the Spartans. While MSU has beaten the Archers over the few years, the games have been closer than the scoreline indicated. Moody has a decent arsenal of power throwers, but have lacked in the catching and strategy departments. For State to win, their catchers will have to go toe to toe with the Archer throwers and the power throwers will need to be accurate to eliminate Moody players. MSU has won 8-0, 6-0, and 5-0 in their three previous match-ups. Moody still has an All-NCDA performer in Ryan Pattison (#31) from last year’s team. They are 1-1-0 on the season, with a win against Depaul but also a loss against Depaul, so it’ll be interesting to see how they adapt to different playing styles.

After that MSU gets Big Ten rival Nebraska, who they beat 14-0 last year. Still, Nebraska has not played a game this season so they may have gotten better. Nebraska has yet to pick up their first NCDA victory in three seasons in the league, but they have picked up a couple of points in matches. They did not compete at Nationals 2012, and their last matches were at the 2012 CDO.

Michigan State’s final match is against James Madison, the team who upset them at Nationals 2012. James Madison is currently #4 in the country at 6-1-1, and this game will be one of the marquee matches of the month, along with GVSU/JMU and MSU/SVSU. JMU is led by Chris Hess (#5-C) and they have a complete team along the lines of UK, Kent State, GVSU, and SVSU. However, so far this season they haven’t really played many top tier teams. They beat UK’s second team, lost to Kent State in OT, and besides that they have been playing teams with losing records. Victories over MSU and GVSU would really cement them as part of the league’s elite programs, but the Spartans will have something to say about that. Michigan State will need to play an all around complete game to pick up the win, but they should be able to do so.

The Spartans can pick up three big wins next weekend if they play to their abilities, and hopefully they can pick up a little momentum as we get ready for Michigan Dodgeball Cup season.