Mardi Gras Madness Tournament Preview

This Saturday, Northwestern State University of Louisiana will host the Mardi Gras Madness tournament.  Georgia Southern and North Georgia will make the trip for this three-team clash in the NCDA’s young and exciting South Region.  There is quite a bit of unknown when it comes to the south region.  These three teams will certainly answer some of our questions this weekend when we see how each of them fare on the court.  Below is a quick preview for this tournament held at Northwestern State University: Continue reading “Mardi Gras Madness Tournament Preview”

2018 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Recap

GVSU, winners of the 2018 Michigan Dodgeball Cup. PC: Ben Tiesworth

This past Sunday, Michigan State University hosted the annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup (MDC).  #1 Central Michigan and #2 Grand Valley State joined #10 Michigan State in East Lansing for the tourney to determine bragging rights in the state of Michigan.

Only 3 official matches were played on Sunday at MDC, but those games did draw quite a bit of attention.  Below are the results from the three matches, along with my reactions of each game and each team at MDC: Continue reading “2018 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Recap”

Reacting to College Dodgeball’s “Upset Weekend”

This past weekend featured two highly anticipated tournaments that were bound to have a massive impact on the college dodgeball landscape this season.  On both Saturday and Sunday, Akron University hosted “The War”, bringing in teams from three different regions to play in a two day tournament filled with exciting matchups.  Also last weekend (on Sunday), Michigan State University hosted the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, a historic tournament that always has a huge effect on the league’s standings.

This weekend did not disappoint! There were a number of very surprising results from the two tournaments, which is why I am dubbing it “Upset Weekend”.

A few crazy stats from this past weekend’s events, before we dive into the results:

  • All 10 teams in the top 10 of the current Power Rankings were in action at one of the two tournaments!
  • There were 9 total upsets on the weekend, out of 24 total games.  9 upsets is the most for any weekend in at least the past four seasons, and a 37.5% upset rate for the weekend is absolutely staggering.

Here are the results from this weekend’s events: Continue reading “Reacting to College Dodgeball’s “Upset Weekend””

Standings as of 2018-02-13

Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday. 

With a massive two day event in Akron (The War II) and the oldest continual running event of collegiate dodgeball (the Michigan Dodgeball Cup), we had enough games played to rival an early Nationals weekend.

In the 2018 Season, we have 43 technical upsets in 169 ranked matches (74.56% success rate) across 26 events. This past weekend, we had 15 Member Teams play 24 ranked matches, 9 of which were technical upsets.

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 2018-02-13”

The War II

AKRON – Rec: In The War II,
JMU def Miami 4-1
PSU def WVU 7-0 (Induction)
VCU def Akron 4-0
BGSU def PSU 3-2
Akron def WVU 8-0
SVSU def JMU 4-3 OT
Towson def Kent 4-1
Ohio def PSU 3-1
Kent def JMU 4-1
Miami def WVU 4-0
Miami def Akron 3-2
BGSU def VCU 2-1
SVSU def Kent 3-1
VCU def Ohio 3-2
Towson def BGSU 3-2

AKRON – Central Hower HS: Day 2 of The War II,
SVSU def Towson 3-1
JMU def Ohio 4-1
SVSU def CSU 5-0
Towson def Ohio 4-0
Towson def Akron 5-1
Akron def CSU 4-1

2018 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview

Photo Credit - Alan Holben
The 14th Annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup will take place this Sunday at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

This Sunday, Michigan State University will host one of the most significant tournaments of the season: The 14th Annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup.  In attendance this year will be 3 of the top 10 teams in the country according to the official NCDA Standings (and the most recent power rankings).

#1 Central Michigan (also #1 in the Power Rankings), #2 Grand Valley State (#2 PR), and #10 Michigan State (#8 PR) all bring a different dynamic to this tournament, as it promises to be an intriguing set of games.

Before we get into the preview, the schedule for this tournament is listed below:

10:15 a.m. – MSU vs. GVSU

11:30 a.m. – CMU vs. MSU

12:45 p.m. – GVSU vs. CMU

Now, on to the preview.  Let’s start by talking briefly about each team in attendance. Continue reading “2018 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview”

Status Quo Ante Bellum, 2018

The state existing before the war

In the same way I explored last year, I will preview the War happening this weekend at Akron. This year Akron plays host again, with some new teams brought into the mix.

Rating Team Record
48.815 (#3) Kent 8-4
48.483 (#4) JMU 7-2
48.360 (#5) BGSU 13-5
47.240 (#6) Towson 14-3
45.802 (#7) SVSU 6-9
41.632 (#11) VCU 5-6
41.525 (#12) PSU 3-3
40.227 (#14) Ohio 12-10
40.000 (–) WVU Inducting
38.218 (#23) Miami 6-4
36.364 (#33) Akron (H) 4-11
35.181 (#34) CSU 3-7

I’ve marked this as opinion, since a predictive pre-event preview article deals with a lot of predictive analysis. It is different than the quantitative approach of the Standings. When we work with predictions, we can only be so accurate until the opinion floats in.

First, some housekeeping. Continue reading “Status Quo Ante Bellum, 2018”

Power Rankings: February 2018

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone.  While the NFL crowns a champion later today, College Dodgeball still has a few months before they do the same.  It has been an exciting season so far, and things are really starting to heat up as we head into the late winter / early spring.  Listed below are the power rankings for the month of February.  Please note, these power rankings (produced by Jacob Leski and myself) have no impact on the actual NCDA Standings.  These are strictly opinion based rankings.  Enjoy:

1) Central Michigan

The Chippewas keep rolling! Hard to find any glaring problems with this team. Even after losing Kris Kohler, and Tyler Prill to graduation, this team has not skipped a beat. Their most dominant performance to me was their match this past weekend against Kent State. Kent went up 1-0 on CMU, but the Chips won 5-1. This has happened more than once for this squad this year, which tells me that if they get down they have little trouble coming back, a strong sign of a championship caliber team. Their only real weakness is their lack in numbers. This squad often travels with the exact amount needed to fill a roster. However, look to see this change soon, leaders are working with myself and CMU’s club sports department to get their numbers back to what they used to be. – Jacob Leski

Easy choice for the number spot here.  Central Michigan is having an unbelievable season so far.  The Chips, sitting at 18-0, have a chance to be the first team since 2009 GVSU to win a national title with an undefeated record!  I am very excited to see this team in action next weekend at the highly anticipated Michigan Dodgeball Cup.  They are the clear favorites at the moment, but certainly will be tested by Grand Valley and Michigan State.  We all know Mike Riley is on of the best players in the country, but in my opinion, the x-factor for CMU the rest of this season will be the production from players like Grant Webber, Bryce Belen, and Casey Bielec.  All three have the skills to earn All-American status this year.  And all three will need to play their best dodgeball down the stretch for Central to preserve their undefeated season. – Kevin Bailey

Continue reading “Power Rankings: February 2018”

Standings as of 2018-01-30

Standings are aimed to be released by the end of every Tuesday. 

With one big event hosted by Ohio, we are back after the New Year and into the second half of the College Dodgeball season.

In the 2018 Season, we have 34 technical upsets in 145 ranked matches (76.55% success rate) across 24 events. This past weekend, we had two technical upsets in fifteen ranked matches.

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 2018-01-30”

Alumni Appreciation- UWP Players

It is January and alumni appreciation month for the NCDA. So I thought it fitting to highlight some of the former players of the Platteville Dodgeball players that helped to make what the club is today.   These individuals were broken up by category comprised of different skills we utilize in the sport of Dodgeball.

With the help of Scott Skelly and Matt Bautch, I was able to come up with the following top players for each skill. Thanks to these two for helping do the writes ups for these alumni. Continue reading “Alumni Appreciation- UWP Players”

BOTM: 2017 December

December may seem like it was a year ago, but the NCDA’s Baller of the Month for December is JMU’s Doug Schilling. This award is long over due for Doug, who has been a key player for them since the day he stepped on the court his freshman year. Take a gander at my conversation with this year’s potential MVP: Continue reading “BOTM: 2017 December”