Rule Proposal: Balls Live on Play Stoppage Rule.

Written by: Wesley Peters

Rule Proposal: When a stoppage of play is called (of any variety), balls which are in the air remain live until they are either caught, team caught, or hit a surface/object/etc that renders them dead, regardless of whether they have hit a live player or not at the time of the timeout being granted. (AKA they remain live until they are dead, not instantly ruled dead) Further, if a referee is GENUINELY UNABLE to determine whether or not balls were airborne before or after the timeout is called, the balls will be considered to have never been thrown, and given back to the team that threw them in the first place.

Rationale: The rule is currently broken, and can be exploited in the following way: Team A throws (any number of balls, the more you throw the worse it gets) at Team B. Team B calls timeout as soon as Team A throws and the balls have entered Team B’s zone, but not close enough for them to be near anyone on Team B’s LAZ. Therefore, Team B is awarded those balls (Because they are dead upon timeout since they have been throw but not made contact with anyone on Team B, and Team A’s shot clock resets down to the lowest increment of 5.

So to summarize, Team B get’s Team A’s balls for the cost of their timeout, and Team A still needs to throw to reset their initial shot clock because even though Team B gets those balls that they threw, their throws legally do not count. The way the rule is currently written not only hurts Team A tremendously, but that effect is exacerbated if it happens on the throws immediately following a balls over call, thus effectively nullifying the effects of the balls over altogether.
I don’t recall why we initially changed this rule to balls in the air are dead off the official’s whistle, but I think it was because it was difficult for the official to rule whether they had been thrown before the timeout call. I think personally it is not that difficult to tell as an official if you are paying attention, so the pros should vastly outweigh the cons by changing this rule.

Also, I would like for this to be voted upon and changed ASAP so that any matches that may happen next weekend or at nationals are not subject to this possibly happening.

Standings as of 2017-03-28

As no events are scheduled for the remainder of the eligible season, this will be the last Standings posted going into Nationals! We’ve had an incredible 245 recorded entry 2017 Season, with 229 ranked matches in 39 events. When I started recording complete records for the 2011 season, we had only 116 ranked matches in 26 regular season events. In seven years, that’s a 97% increase.  Continue reading “Standings as of 2017-03-28”

The Michigan All-Stars

As everyone knows each team this season is represented by two players for the All-Star Game presented by SAVAGE Apparel Co. (or maybe you don’t but in the words of the famous urban philosopher The Notorious B.I.G., “if you don’t know, now you know”). Now it may be true for many teams, but I think it’s especially true for the four Michigan schools that more than just two players per team are deserving of the status of all-star. So I decided to make a full team of the players from the Great Lakes State that I deem to be all-stars in addition to the eight players recognized by their respective schools.

The jerseys of the team that will be winning the All-Star Game presented by SAVAGE Apparel Co.
The jersey of a team whose GM is on the hot seat after some questionable draft picks

 

 

Continue reading “The Michigan All-Stars”

Policy Proposal – Member Team Voting Rights

Policy Proposal by Colin O’Brien

In order for a member team to be eligible to vote on league matters (proposed rule changes, policy changes, or Executive Board elections), the member team must pay league dues.

Reasoning: New member teams are currently given two years before they have to start paying league dues. New member teams lack the experience relative to other league teams needed to best judge rule, policy, or executive board candidacy. Following their first two years in the league, the new member team would gain such experience. Also, if a new member team would especially wish to vote, the option remains for the new member team to begin to pay dues early to gain voting rights.

Continue reading “Policy Proposal – Member Team Voting Rights”

Rule Proposal: Shot Clock Officials

Rule Proposal by Ben Tubergen

Rule proposal: Shot clock officials are responsible for distinguishing a legitimate throw vs. a non legitimate throw.

My reasoning for this is that there have been multiple occasions this year where the shot clock official stops his/her count thinking it was a legitimate throw, then realizes the head ref thought it wasn’t, and then begins to pick up their count again causing confusion for the throwing team. Typically resulting in balls over.

I hope that wasn’t too wordy. But this is the scenario. Team A’s shot clock is at 12, team A makes a throw attempt that the shot clock counter deems legitimate, he/she stops counting. Team A continues play as if their shot clock has been reset. However the shot clock official then realizes the head ref deemed the throw illegitimate. The shot clock official then begins to either pick up their count from the time of Team A’s throw (at 13) or skips ahead to compensate for the time that elapsed (14 or 15). Leaving little to no time for Team A to react. In numerous occasions this scenario causes confusion for team A resulting in a balls over, because they’re listening to the count not watching the head refs signaling.

The War

AKRON – The War: Finals results from both days.

Akron def CSU 5-0
MSU def VCU 3-0
GVSU def Ohio 5-1
DePaul def CSU 5-1
MSU def Akron 5-0
VCU def Ohio 5-0
Akron def DePaul 4-1
GVSU def MSU 3-2 OT
Ohio def CSU 3-1
GVSU def VCU 2-0
CSU def BW 0-0 (F)
DePaul def BW 0-0 (F)
Akron def BW 0-0 (F)

Kent def Ohio 3-0
BGSU def VCU 2-1
Ohio def Akron 3-2
PSU def DePaul 4-0
Kent def VCU 2-0
PSU def BGSU 2-1
BGSU def DePaul 4-0
Kent def PSU 3-1

All is Fair in Love and War

It’s time to take a break from the craziness that has been the Captain’s Page and all of the rule proposals popping up.  Let’s make dodgeball great again!  This weekend the University of Akron will be hosting The War, which is the largest and last tournament of the 2016-2017 regular season.

11 teams from 5 different states will come to Akron, OH to compete in The War.  Needless to say, it’s a pretty big deal, with a lot of implications on seeding heading into Nationals, take a look at an article by our VP Zigmas Maloni, Status Quo Ante Bellum, on the possible exchanges.  There has also been a lot of talk off the court heading into this weekend, which I’m sure will translate into some exciting on court performances.

Continue reading “All is Fair in Love and War”

Status Quo Ante Bellum

The state existing before the war

Rank Rating Team
1 56.593 GVSU
7 45.474 MSU
8 43.786 Kent
10 42.489 VCU
11 42.484 PSU
13 41.547 BGSU
16 38.704 Ohio
17 38.078 DePaul
19 37.893 CSU
22 37.459 BW
26 36.737 Akron

I’ve marked this as opinion, as I include stuff we don’t track statistically.

A technical upset is when a lower rated team defeats a higher rated team. The first day of the War includes so many closely rated opponents that it is incredibly unlikely we will see every match predicted correctly. In our Gonzalez system’s current, straight success rate, the higher seeded team will win four of five games. However, this is less likely to apply as the rating gap between teams increases. Any of GVSU’s scheduled games are unlikely to result in a technical upset. CSU vs Akron is much fuzzier; each team has near identical ratings, being only 0.157 difference.

That said, these are the kinds of matches that are a test to the system. The wins and losses and overtimes (8.19% chance of occurrence) at the end of the day will better determine each team’s rating going into Nationals. We’ve never had this many great, even match games for Nationals before. I’m excited to see the results.  Continue reading “Status Quo Ante Bellum”

The 2017 NCDA All Star Game Participants – Presented by SAVAGE Apparel Co.

SAVAGE_Logo_WordmarkCircle

For the second year in a row, SAVAGE Apparel Co. is our headlining sponsor for the NCDA’s 2017 All Star Game.  The team uniforms for this match will be provided by SAVAGE; they will be dry-fit, fully sublimated uniforms. They look amazing and we’re very excited to be able to present each of the All Stars with one of these jersey. This partnership between SAVAGE and NCDA is a great way for SAVAGE to be able to sample their excellent quality gear to each team. As a reminder, teams can purchase gear from SAVAGE at a discounted price from their website.

This year’s game will feature two players from each NCDA team, with a draft taking place on March 26th at 8:00PM Eastern.  The draft will be broadcasted to YouTube and a link will be provided on our website and our Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

Kevin Bailey will be the honorary coach for one side, while Jacob Leski will coach the other squad.  These two executive board members will pick their choices in a snake-style draft during the 2017 All Star Draft.

Listed below are the representatives from each school for the 2017 All Star Game Presented by SAVAGE:

*Let us know in the comment section who your top picks would be if you were an All Star Game team captain!

Continue reading “The 2017 NCDA All Star Game Participants – Presented by SAVAGE Apparel Co.”

Rule Proposal – Shot Clock Burden Ball

Cross Post: Captains’ Club

Written by Sean Smith:

The team receiving all balls after a balls over must make 3 (I’m flexibile to making this just 2) legitimate throws on the ensuing shot clock unless said team is on a 10 second shot clock in its own right.

Rationale: Continue reading “Rule Proposal – Shot Clock Burden Ball”

Rule Proposal – Blood Rule

Cross Post: Captains’ Club

Written by Brandon Meisel:

If at any time a player has blood on their clothes or person, they will receive 30 seconds to remove any and all traces of blood from their clothes and/or person. If the player cannot remove the blood in the allotted time, the team will be forced to take a time out, and sub the player out. If the team doesn’t have any timeouts left, the player will be taken out of the game, and will ineligible for the remainder of the point (not match). The clocks will then be reset according to the team timeouts rule. (The team that has the player with the blood will act as the team that is calling the timeout.) However, if the team with the bloodied player has a throw clock that is above 10 (for the 15 count) or above 5 (for the 10 count) their shot clock will be reset down to that number (10 or 5) in order to allow them enough time to throw.

Rationale: Continue reading “Rule Proposal – Blood Rule”