The long wait is over! Derrek Kemper of THE Ohio State University is your Baller of the Month for December. The Rookie sensation for the Buckeyes is a Power house thrower, and already has the catching ability and court awareness of a multi-year veteran. Derrek has proven himself to be a huge asset to the talented Buckeye roster thus far. We talked all things Dodgeball, including his go-to tournament meals!
The Midway Conference kicks off their second half of the season with the Annual Zanderthon Throw-Down on February 19th. This will mark the sixth one in its history! It will once again feature the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP) and several UWP alumni. The schedule for this Saturday’s event is as follows.
Continue reading “Zanderthon Throw-Down”In the 2022 Season, we have 26 technical upsets in 90 ranked matches (71.11% success rate) across 15 events.
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 each Nationals bracket since 2017.
Continue reading “Standings as of 2022-02-16”
17 years.
That’s how long it had been since the last time Michigan State University’s dodgeball club members could call themselves Michigan Dodgeball Cup Champions. 17 years of heartbreak. 17 years of what-ifs. 17 years of being the butt of jokes from rival Michigan teams when February rolled around.
What started as a two-team event highlighting the rivalry between Michigan State and Delta College, turned into arguably the most historic regular season event in collegiate dodgeball. Back in 2005, when the Spartans were victorious over Delta College by a score of 8-3 in the Inaugural Michigan Dodgeball Cup, nobody could’ve foreseen the suffering the program would go through at this particular event over the next 17 years.
Continue reading “Improbable Comeback Gives Michigan State First Michigan Dodgeball Cup Title since 2005”In the 2022 Season, we have 25 technical upsets in 84 ranked matches (70.24% success rate) across 14 events.
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 each Nationals bracket since 2017.
Continue reading “Standings as of 2022-02-11”
This Saturday, Michigan State University will host three other schools in the annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup. In attendance will be Grand Valley State (8-1), Michigan State (5-3), Saginaw Valley State (2-7), and Western Michigan (0-3). Missing from the MDC for the first time since 2007 (prior to their club’s existence) is Central Michigan University.
While eyes will be on the CMU club to see if they can rebuild their program and get back to competition, let’s shift our attention back to the four teams in attendance. To start, here is the schedule for the 2022 MDC, which will be livestreamed on the NCDA’s social channels this Saturday, starting at 10:00 AM.
Continue reading “2022 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview”
The East Coast is back at it for the first time this semester. Check out the video below as Shadeed Drakeford provides a preview of tomorrow’s tournament!
For the first time in two years, the Ohio Dodgeball Cup will be played this Saturday, February 5th, on Bowling Green State University’s campus. There will be five teams in attendance on the fifth; Akron, Bowling Green State, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Ohio State – all vying for a chance to take home the hardware Saturday afternoon. This could work out to be a great opportunity for those around the league to understand who the true top team in Ohio is this season. Or, we could be left with even more parity than we ended the fall semester with. Regardless, only one team can take the Cup home, and all five want it.
We asked each of the five teams what they think of their matchups this weekend, if they are bringing any young/lesser-known players they feel could be poised to make an impact, and how significant they felt winning the Ohio Dodgeball Cup would be for each of their programs. Here’s what they had to say:
In the 2022 Season, we have 18 technical upsets in 70 ranked matches (74.29% success rate) across 12 events.
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 each Nationals bracket since 2017.
Continue reading “Standings as of 2022-02-03”
Kalamazoo, MI – After a 6-2 decision by the NCDA Executive Board, Western Michigan University has been selected as the host school for Nationals 2022. The school will be able to provide 6 courts between April 9-10th. It is the school’s first time hosting Nationals and Peter Broe will become the new Director of Nationals. Congratulations to the Broncos!
This Saturday we kick off the second half of our 2021-2022 season in Allendale, Michigan, with the Grand Valley Gauntlet VIII. The teams in attendance are: the Grand Valley State University (GVSU), Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), and Michigan State University (MSU). It is exciting to get back on the courts again and I can’t wait to see the results. Let’s take a look at the schedule for tomorrow’s event below.
Continue reading “Grand Valley Gauntlet VIII”
For as long as any of us can remember, the Michigan Region has owned the NCDA. With 12 of the 15 college dodgeball national titles going to a Michigan school, not to mention most of the Final Four each year consisting of Michigan teams, the region’s success could be categorized as nothing short of ‘dominance’. But, that all might be changing. Sure, it took 1.5 years off from NCDA Dodgeball thanks to a worldwide pandemic, but it certainly feels like the gap has closed.
Continue reading “Midseason Takeaways”This year, the league is witnessing arguably some of the most balanced skill sets within the top 8 teams that it has ever seen. In a neck and neck dogfight for the top spot in the rankings, there has been quite some uncertainty on where to predict the final standings for each team. With 4 of these top 8 teams competing in this tournament, we were hoping to clear some of that uncertainty, but all we got was more of it.
Each Ohio team, coming off of their own respective dominant performances, was surely excited to play a hot MSU, who just celebrated a huge technical upset over GVSU. Mixed into these matchups are both UK and WMU, both competing in their season inducting tournament. As the league eagerly looked for the results of this tournament to shine some clarity on the true hierarchy of the league, the results this day struck an existential blow to the concept of clarity: Akron defeated MSU, MSU defeated OSU, OSU defeated UC, and UC defeated Akron and MSU. What do we take away from this? Are any of these teams the technical winner? The transitive property rests in an infinite loop, so we asked each team to give us their thoughts on each matchup to help us debug these results.
Continue reading “Cincinnati Super Smackdown Tournament Review”
