This month we had not one but TWO Baller of the Month winners. I had the pleasure of interviewing the winner of the Women’s bracket, Rebecca Shappell. Continue reading “March Madness Baller of the Month Women’s Bracket Winner”
Nationals 2018 All-Star Announcement
This year, the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association will be changing the format for the annual All-Star Game. For Nationals 2018, there will be 4 All-Star teams competing in a single-elimination tournament, each game will be a one point sudden-death match.
How will the four teams be determined? That is another big change for 2018. This year, we will have four player-captains to draft the All-Star Teams. These four captains will be selected in a unique way.
Policy Proposal- Member Team Voting Rights
Colin O’Brien is re-upping on his policy proposal from 2017 in that member teams must pay league dues in order to vote on league matters.
Rectification Tournament Preview
The following article was co-authored by Chief of Content Kevin Bailey and Erik Zander (UWP Captain).
This Sunday, Grand Valley State University will host one of the most anticipated late season tourneys prior to Nationals. In attendance will be some of the top dodgeball teams in the country. GVSU will obviously be there to protect their home court. Central Michigan will also be in attendance, looking to avenge their most recent loss to the Lakers. Along with these two top teams, Michigan State will make the trip to Allendale as they look to make some improvements heading into Nationals. Wisconsin Platteville will travel around the coast of Lake Michigan up to GVSU’s campus after competing in Chicago just last weekend. And lastly, Saginaw Valley State will be in attendance, with an opportunity to play against GVSU and CMU for the first time since the fall. Along with these five NCDA teams, there will also be a Grand Valley Alumni Team participating in the tournament, with exhibition games scheduled vs. CMU, MSU, and GVSU.
Below, Erik Zander and Kevin Bailey will discuss each official matchup at Rectification, and will provide predictions as well:
Policy Proposal – Timing of new rule/policy ballots
Policy Proposal by Brandon Meisel
The ballot for voting on rule changes must be dispersed to all voting teams no later than 3 weeks after nationals. If the eboard disperses the ballot after the allotted 3 weeks (even if just a day late), they lose their power to veto the newly passed rules for the upcoming year.
Rationale: I know the eboard, especially Felix Perrone, puts in an immense amount of work to make nationals happen, and this rule is not to be a dick and try and pile more on to them, I promise. The intent of this rule is to have voting on the new rule set occur when the opinions, and details of the rules are fresh in everyone’s mind. Last year we voted on the new rules months after nationals and the new rule proposals were made. Months of summer make you forget what the ins and outs of the rules are, and even how you feel about them. If we want this league to succeed we need the teams to be making informed decisions, with their thoughts/opinions on the rules, still fresh in their mind.
The rationale for taking away the eboard’s right to vote isn’t so that we can just pass anything we want to, but instead, it’s to really put the pressure on them to make this get done. Having the right to veto rules is a huge deal for the eboard, and I know they won’t want to relinquish that power, so they will surely comply with the 3 weeks rule.
Lastly, the rationale for the 3 weeks is so that it gives them a week or so to destress from nationals, and then get the rules together in whatever format that they so choose. Anything under 3 weeks isn’t enough time, and anything over 3 weeks is starting to be a little too long to have everything still fresh in the captains minds’.
CDO/DUI Recap
Last Saturday, the teams of University Nebraska- Lincoln, DePaul University, and University of Wisconsin- Platteville competed at the CDO also know as the DUI. Below are the results of the day.
BOTM: 2018 March
Evan Eschenburg – JMU
After a series of matchups and polls on Twitter, JMU’s Evan Eschenburg was the people’s choice, coming out on top over seven other talented and well-qualified dodgeballers. Throughout his career, Eschenburg has embodied what it means to be a true JMU dodgeballer, which lead to him being one of the captains for this season. Without a doubt, he has made a bigger name for himself this season and could even be placed in the league MVP discussion. I had a chance to talk to him to congratulate him and pick his thoughts on dodgeball, JMU, and Fortnite.
Standings as of 2018-03-20
Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday.
In the 2018 Season, we have 52 technical upsets in 211 ranked matches (75.36% success rate) across 33 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 the Nationals 2017 bracket. Continue reading “Standings as of 2018-03-20”
The NCDA Hall of Fame: Who Might Make the Cut
About a year ago Jacob Leski asked me the following question: “If we had an inductee class for the Hall of Fame for the NCDA, who would be your 6?” I thought about it for a second, and then said I don’t know because I only really have a good judge of the people from my era. I then moved on and didn’t think about the question for a while. But it came up again by Kevin Bailey in his write-up for the 2017 All-Americans list, referencing both myself and MSU Dodgeball founder Aleks Bomis as potential first ballot nominees. So once again I thought back to Leski’s question, but then time passed and I didn’t think about it for a while. With the announcement of the newest inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame back in January, the thought of an NCDA Hall returned once more. So as another semester has passed and Nationals 2018 is fastly approaching, I thought I’d finally answer Leski’s question: Who do I think has earned a spot in the hypothetical NCDA Hall of Fame inaugural class.
Continue reading “The NCDA Hall of Fame: Who Might Make the Cut”
2018 DePaul University Invite
CHICAGO – Ray Meyer, Ct 4: In the DePaul University Invite,
DePaul def UNL 5-2
UWP def UNL 7-1
UWP def DePaul 5-1 Continue reading “2018 DePaul University Invite”
Average Joes’ Throwdown
MUNCIE: In the Average Joes’ Throwdown,
SIUE def BSU 7-2 (Induction)
BGSU def SIUE 9-0
BGSU def BSU 10-0
SIUE def BSU 6-3
BGSU def BSU 5-0
Capts def Plebs 2-0
Chicago Dodgeball Open Preview
This Saturday, March 17, 2018 marks another battle in the Midway Conference with the top heavyweights: DePaul University (DePaul), University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL), and University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP). It is going to be a fun one and the league will be in for some good games. Let’s take a look at the schedule. The games will be played at the Ray Meyer Fitness Center ( 2235 N Sheffield Ave, Chicago, IL 60614) Continue reading “Chicago Dodgeball Open Preview”
Future Stars of the Michigan Region
The Michigan Region has historically been the best in college dodgeball, and this year looks to be no different. In the past, the state of Michigan has earned up to 9 of the 15 1st-Team All-American spots, showing how good the top level of talent is in the region. But unfortunately, as is often the case, the veterans on these teams seem to steal the headlines, making it difficult to learn enough about the up-and-coming talent in the region. Well, time to give some of those young players the recognition they deserve. I had the chance to ask a captain on each team who their young star are. Below are the responses I received: Continue reading “Future Stars of the Michigan Region”
Women’s March Madness Baller of the Month Bracket
We are happy to announce that this month, along with our Men’s Baller of the Month bracket, we have put together a bracket with 8 of the top female ballers in college dodgeball for you to vote on.
The voting will take place on Twitter, and will begin later this week (Thursday afternoon) following the conclusion of the men’s bracket. Below is the list of finalists, along with the official bracket showing each first round matchup. Check our Twitter later this week for the first poll! Continue reading “Women’s March Madness Baller of the Month Bracket”
Rule Proposal – Shot Clock Mechanics
Rule Proposal by Kevin Frye
Shotclocks – be required to have a handheld stop watch (phone app, watch, etc) to count down time. (instead of guesstimating the seconds and pissing people off).
While doing so they should be speaking into a megaphone directed toward their team.
Instead of the annoying screaming Dodgeball player who gets exhausted screaming the shot clock and loosing their voice.
Reasons:
1. Megaphones are cheap, like $30.
2. No more “I couldn’t hear the shotclock”
3. No more “they’re counting too slow or too fast”
4. It would be a lot more professional
I believe if each team had their own team megaphone & stopwatch to bring to a tournament, things would be more professional and accurate.
Accurate + audible shotclock = happy teams
Thoughts?