Early Look: Nationals 2017

It’s almost that time of year again. The transition from winter to spring means more than just warm weather. It means College Dodgeball Nationals is just around the corner. Dodgeball teams across the nation transition from the regular season grind to a post-season mindset. In a matter of weeks, the entire National Collegiate Dodgeball Association will convene for the annual national tournament that decides which club team is crowned NCDA National Champions.

The atmosphere inside of the Seaton Center on the campus of University of Kentucky will be electric, as it always is when UK hosts the season’s final tourney. 24 teams will make their way to Lexington, KY for what promises to be a tournament to remember.

Below, I will kick off the Nationals Preview articles (you will see a lot of these in the coming weeks) with a brief early look at the big tourney. The second weekend of April is quickly approaching, and while there are still a few dodgeball events yet to be played, I will take this opportunity to give my thoughts on what I expect from Nationals 2017:

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Chicago Dodgeball Combine

Well, it is the only tournament this weekend and once again it is between two heavy weights DePaul and Platteville. They are playing each other for the 7th time this year, which I believe is the most between any two teams in the league.  Both teams will be playing in the Chicago Dodgeball Combine.  It will be a double header with the first game starting at around 12:30p.m.  Let’s take a look at the teams.   Continue reading “Chicago Dodgeball Combine”

Standings as of 2017-03-07

Of the 12 games played this past weekend in Towson and the Kentuckian Bowling Green, we saw only one technical upset. Akron def UNG 5-2. While the video of this game was exciting, this game could be considered one of the rating adjustments games because new Member Team UNG didn’t have a lot games under their belt. There’s always many angles you can look at the result. The end exchange was 1.490 and ranks 43rd out of 222 technical upsets. We have 1170 ranked matches under our collective belts.

Team Pre Post Change
Akron 35.518 36.737 1.219
UK 47.366 48.235 0.869
Towson 47.972 48.819 0.847
Kent 43.388 43.786 0.399
WKU 41.906 42.223 0.317
VCU 42.975 42.489 -0.486
UMD 36.909 36.149 -0.760
UNG 40.466 38.061 -2.405

Akron leads the day with the biggest exchange having won a technical upset. UK also secured the big victory by gaining the most points without needing to upset anybody to do it. Plus, they brought home the Kentucky Dodgeball Cup in their 3-1 win over a WKU home team.  Continue reading “Standings as of 2017-03-07”

Top Tweets of February 2017

In our second edition of the top tweets of the month, Kevin and I once again sat down to look through the savagery our league has to offer.  We were pleasantly surprised with this month’s candidates, and look forward to what the league has to offer in the future.  Now, let’s take a look at what we believe to be the top 10 tweets of February 2017:

Top tweet of the month:

Continue reading “Top Tweets of February 2017”

Baller of the Month – March Madness Bracket

Alright folks, big news.

For the month of March, there will be a different process in place for determining the Baller of the Month.  The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s Content team has narrowed the list down to 8 candidates.  Those 8 finalists are as follows (in no particular order):

Continue reading “Baller of the Month – March Madness Bracket”

King of the Hill Preview!

The following was written by Zachary Parise of the University of Kentucky

Just as I said in my last article, this semester is looking to be one of the best in recent NCDA history. We are only a month away from the biggest tournament of the year and this season has already seen more matches, and more upsets than ever before. This weekend, Western Kentucky University hosts the very first King of the Hill tournament. WKU will play host to Akron University, North Georgia University, and the University of Kentucky. Along with the standard three matches for each, UK and WKU will be playing for the Kentucky state cup for the first time since 2011. Let’s take a look at each team and what to expect. Continue reading “King of the Hill Preview!”

Zanderthon Throw-Down 2 Recap

Zanderthon Throw-Down 2 Recap

On February 25, 2017 DePaul, Platteville, and Alumni competed in the Zanderthon Throw-Down 2.  It was a fun filled day that brought about some competitive games.  We got to see some familiar faces as well as some new ones on the court.  The results of the games are as followed:

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Nationals 2017 Announcement

Get ready y’all. This is going to be a HUGE event. Nationals 2017 will have roughly 460 players representing 24 schools from 10 different states. With so many dodgeball players from all over flocking to Lexington on April 8 & 9, its bound to be a good time!

Nationals 2017 will feature 59 ranked games, in addition to the NCDA Alumni Match, NCDA Ladies’ Match, and the NCDA All Star Game presented by SAVAGE apparel.

This is INSANE and I couldn’t be happier! This will be the largest Nationals the NCDA has ever hosted. This year’s attendance will break last year’s (which set the current record) 18 team tournament by 33%.

Entry fees are due March 15 and can be paid via check or through PayPal.

These 24 teams have registered for Nationals:
Akron, BGSU, BW, CMU, CSU, DePaul, GVSU, JMU, Kent, Miami, MSU, NSULA, Ohio, OSU, PSU, SVSU, Towson, UK, UMD, UNG, UVA, UWP, VCU, WKU

Design by Brett Hadwin, Zigmas Maloni, Felix Perrone

All Stars have been submitted for these 26 teams:
Akron, BGSU, BW, CMU, CSU, DePaul, GSU, GVSU, JMU, Kent, Miami, MSU, NSULA, Ohio, OSU, PSU, SU, SVSU, Towson, UK, UMD, UNG, UVA, UWP, VCU, WKU

[artwork coming soon!]

57 ladies have registered for the ladies match. At least one lady has registered from these 18 teams (including alumni ladies):
Akron, BGSU, CMU, CSU, DePaul, GVSU, JMU, Kent, Miami, MSU, NSULA, Ohio, OSU, PSU, SVSU, Towson, UK, UNG.

Design by Brett Hadwin

The winning team will receive shirts with the logo below printed on the chest.

Design by Zigmas Maloni, Brett Hadwin

Ohio Dodgeball Cup Review

This year’s Ohio Dodgeball Cup was nothing short of exciting this past weekend. I don’t believe that anyone could have predicted that outcome. Congratulations are in order for the Ohio Bobcats, your 2017 Ohio Dodgeball Cup Champions! I have to be honest, I thought it would be a long time before I would ever say that! But they did it, and they deserved it.

Continue reading “Ohio Dodgeball Cup Review”

BOTM: 2017 February

February’s BOTM: Hunter Ford of VCU (Seen here with no eye black… a rare occurrence these days).

February’s Baller of the Month was all but decided four days into the month when JMU’s BEAST VI tournament concluded.  It was clearly time to recognize the efforts of Virginia Commonwealth’s team, more specifically, their captain: Hunter Ford.

I had the chance to have a discussion with Hunter, and it was a very telling one.  We chat about a variety of topics, ranging from his role on VCU’s team, to his thoughts on the ranking system, to his talent as a ‘Twitter Jockey’, and much more.  Congratulation Hunter on being VCU’s first ever BOTM.  Here is my talk with the leader for VCU Dodgeball:

Continue reading “BOTM: 2017 February”

Public Service Announcement

Do you play in the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association? Then you should read the 2017 NCDA Rulebook. Are you a captain of a member team of the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association? Then you definitely must read the 2017 NCDA Rulebook. Have you in the past or will you in the future officiate an official match between two member teams of the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association? Then why on Earth have you not already read the 2017 NCDA Rulebook?

And, if after reading the 2017 NCDA Rulebook you find yourself in the reading mood, then why don’t you go ahead and read the NCDA Constitution as well. Knowledge is power and it can never hurt to get informed.

Zanderthon Throw-Down 2

Zanderthon Throw-Down 2

Well, it is the most anticipated tournament of this semester. Two great teams, the DePaul Dodgeball Society and Platteville Dodgeball Club will duke it out once again for the sixth time this year on Saturday, February 25, 2017. There will also be some UWP alumni dodgeball players joining  the fun that day. I also want to give these alumni a shout out for being a part of and starting the club ten years ago. Your determination to play dodgeball has led to me and others on the team making many new friends from around the country.  It should be interesting to see how these games turn out. The games this year have been all over the place from an overtime in Nebraska to a blowout game at DePaul.  The last few matches have been more competitive and DePaul is showing that they can hang in there and cause teams problems.  With that said let’s take a look at the match ups for the day.

Continue reading “Zanderthon Throw-Down 2”

Looking Ahead: Previewing the 2018 MDC

Well the best non-Nationals tournament of the year took place last Sunday. Although the Michigan Dodgeball Cup may have lacked some drama regarding which team would lift the cup, it was not short on some dramatic moments on the day. With the 2017 MDC in the books, there remains only one thing to do: start looking ahead to the 2018 MDC!

Continue reading “Looking Ahead: Previewing the 2018 MDC”