Gonzalez System Home Court Advantage Update

The Executive Board had voted on 2016-12-10 to move exclusively to the Gonzalez system, which will determine the seeds for the Nationals 2017 tournament bracket. During peer review with the Content Team, the value of Home Court Advantage was questioned and initiated a full review on home court advantage in the NCDA. This review was based on objective data from past matches (1114 ranked matches as of 2017-02-10) and determined that +1 was more appropriate than the +3 used by the system.

HCA +3 = 231 technical upsets of 1114 matches (79.26%)
HCA +1 = 208 technical upsets of 1114 matches (81.33%)
Variance: 23 in 1114 (2% or about 1 in 50)

The Executive Board has voted to update the Home Court Advantage modifier to +1.

Motion to adjust the Home Court Advantage variable from the current +3 to +1 point for the home team. This increases the accuracy of the system and is more realistic indication of home court advantage.

5/5 approve, with assent of Director of Nationals. Motion caries 2017-02-06 22:40 CST.

The Gonzalez system will use +1 point in the case of home court advantage and the system variables are frozen for Nationals 2017. The Gonzalez system will determine the seeds for Nationals 2017 tournament bracket. The current success rate with this variable is 208 technical upsets of 1114 total ranked matches (81.33%).

Preview for Bobcat Bash I

We are back in the swing of things here at the NCDA and it’s time for OU to host the first Bobcat Bash! Hopefully we’ve all had time to recover from the turbulent BEAST VI tournament, and the whirlwind Super Bowl. This could prove to be a battleground for lower-tier teams to show what they’ve got, as well as a controversial Central Michigan team to prove to us that they are still a force to be reckoned with in the league. Continue reading “Preview for Bobcat Bash I”

BEAST VI Recap

We already heard from the NCDA Chief of Content on his overreaction from the BEAST VI this weekend. But a couple of days have passed and it’s time for a more reserved, balanced reaction to the wild and entertaining day of dodgeball that took place in Harrisonburg this past Saturday. A reminder once again of this weekend’s results.
Continue reading “BEAST VI Recap”

Gonzalez standings as of 2017-02-05

After the handful of technical upsets at BEAST this weekend, we see a shake up of the top 7 tier.

There is a number of fluctuating tiers in the Standings, which correlates to similar ratings in the tier. It’s important to consider a team’s rating in addition to their rank. Currently, GVSU is still GVSU… they are still four to five games ahead of their nearest competitors. They are alone in the top tier.

Only 1.3 point rating gap separates #2 through #7. In this tier, #7 is one moderate upset away from a #2 placing. It’s all relative. The situation for #3 MSU is moderately perilous to the rest of this top seven, but comfortable compared to the rest of the League. A losing record at the upcoming Michigan Dodgeball Cup will put them in a worse situation for Nationals; let’s keep in mind that 4 of the top 7 teams will be at the MDC. A winning record will put them back into a solid #2 and I think their current rating is only going to be their lowest point of the season. MSU has the potential to finish higher, they just have to play.  Continue reading “Gonzalez standings as of 2017-02-05”

BEAST VI Tournament Reaction (Overreaction)

What just happened?!?

Has anyone figured that out yet?

In case you’ve been living under a rock the past few days, James Madison University played host to a number of schools from across the country in the 6th annual Big East Appalachian Super Tournament, aka BEAST this weekend.

To put it simply, this was one for the ages.  Before I dig in on my “reaction” (or should I say: overreaction), here are the results from the tourney:

JAMES MADISON – UREC

Results:

JMU def OSU 4-1
UK def Towson 3-2 OT
JMU def UK 3-1
MSU def VCU 3-2 OT
Towson def MSU 3-1
VCU def OSU 3-2
JMU def MSU 3-1
UK def OSU 3-0
Towson def JMU 2-0
VCU def UK 2-1 OT
MSU def OSU 3-0

Records:

JMU: 3-1
Towson: 2-1
VCU: 2-1
MSU: 2-2
UK: 2-2
OSU: 0-4

Continue reading “BEAST VI Tournament Reaction (Overreaction)”

BEAST VI Loaded with Talent

We are still in the beginning stages of the Spring Semester, but we will be off to an exciting start.  Let’s just say, this field is loaded.

This is definitely one of the toughest tournaments you’ll see in the NCDA this season.  The sixth installment of the BEAST will feature 5 of the current top 10 teams in the NCDA per Gonzalez standings, and is sure to stir the pot of the NCDA.  Every team will play 4 games each, so this will be a marathon to see who can outlast each other down the stretch.  Given all of the talent that will be on display this weekend, it would be tough to say any team has a true advantage.

To further illustrate the point, JMU, MSU, OSU, Towson, UK, and VCU have a combined record of 45-23-4, with 12 of those losses coming from playing each other this year.  Like I said, a very strong group of teams coming together in Harrisonburg, VA.

Continue reading “BEAST VI Loaded with Talent”

Gonzalez Standings as of 2017-02-01

This system is slightly different than the Gonzalez system used in the past few standings posts. In order to better account for home court advantage (HCA), we now give only 1 point advantage to the home team, where it used to be +3. Under the new HCA variable, the system has a greater success rate of 81.60% as opposed to the old 79.42%. In 1103 ranked matches, there are 203 upsets as opposed to 227.

In the next few days, look for a report proving +1 is better than +3. Proceeding this report, an Exec Board vote is scheduled to put this +1 point Home Court Advantage into the system to have it in place for Nationals. Continue reading “Gonzalez Standings as of 2017-02-01”

Power Rankings Poll: Groundhog’s Day Edition

Disclaimer: These rankings have zero impact on seeding for the National Tournament or actual ranking. They provide insight into where teams are currently performing during a given part of the season.

Continue reading “Power Rankings Poll: Groundhog’s Day Edition”

My Dodgeball Story: Shadeed Drakeford

For our newest installment in the “My Dodgeball Story” series, we turn to Shadeed Drakeford, founder of the VCU Dodgeball Club.  Here he tells his story about the creation of the team, his experiences while being the leader of the team, and the new role he has on the team.

By: Shadeed Q. Drakeford

Introduction

A long time ago after the annual Chick-fil-A dodgeball tournament in Richmond, VA, my best friend Micheal Tse and I were walking back to my apartment talking about dodgeball and the possibility of playing after our college days were done. This took place in October 2011, several months after the historical Final Four run by VCU in the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. The conversation started off very casually and jokingly with talks of playing semi-professionally along the East Coast with the potential of winning cash prizes or free food. After all, who doesn’t like free food? Yet, small talk created curiosity in me, and I stumbled across a hidden gem which has been around since 2004, the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association (NCDA).

In December 2011 as a Christmas present to myself, I completed all of the paperwork that was necessary to have the Dodgeball Club at VCU as an official student organization. Little did I know my life would never be the same again. When I first came to VCU, there was actually a very big showing for people who wanted to play. Back then, we exclusively played what we called “medic” dodgeball against other students and it would bring in large crowds of people. But over time, dodgeball at VCU was shrinking in size every single year. It started out strong with at least 100 people playing medic dodgeball every Friday from 2-4:30 p.m. in my freshman year to only 20 people playing medic dodgeball three times a week in my junior year. Once I made the club in those later years, the purpose of the club was to create some stability and a strong perception of the sport around VCU, so that we would have some gym time every week. For anyone who has ever attended VCU, dodgeball time was always cut short on a weekly basis due to soccer, and never really got the respect it deserved compared to the other sports.

Continue reading “My Dodgeball Story: Shadeed Drakeford”

Rundown of the Ohio Teams

This seems to be a great season for Ohio dodgeballers, Ohio University is playing the best they have ever played, Kent State and Bowling Green State are reclaiming their former glory, and The University of Akron has become a force on the court and can hang with most teams. Ohio dodgeball is becoming so competitive that it’s hard to predict the ODC this season. Now, I apologize in advance to OSU and Baldwin Wallace because I don’t know how your teams have been this season, because I have not played you, and this article is about my observations from playing these teams, as well as each Ohio Captains’ opinions about their respective team. Continue reading “Rundown of the Ohio Teams”

Team Spotlight: Kent State

After a long hiatus, we are back to our Team Spotlight series.  We will be covering the Golden Flashes of Kent State, as they prepare for their tournament this weekend at the University of Kentucky.  I had the pleasure of interviewing current captain Cassie Weaver, as she goes into depth about her team and what to expect from them in the coming semester.

Continue reading “Team Spotlight: Kent State”

Kentucky Invite Preview

By Zach Parise (UK)

Dodgeball is back y’all. Finally the Kentucky and Ohio regions get a piece of the action in what looks to be one of the most exciting semesters in recent NCDA history. UK hosts Western Kentucky University, Kent State University, and Ohio University this weekend. This tournament has a lot to offer for all five teams. Kent State and Western can break out of the middle of the pack, OU can get some good experience and pick up some quality wins, and UK seeks to continue the successful season thus far. Here we will look into each team and what to expect come Saturday.

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Policy Proposal – Senior Eligibility for Nationals

Policy proposal by Jeff Starr

Seniors graduating in the winter semester (or first or second quarter for schools on quarters) are eligible to play at nationals.

Rationale: NCAA does it, nice for guys to get one more nationals, best competition at nationals

Side note: this will not be personally affecting me

Public Service Announcement

There are 75 days until Nationals. More importantly, there are 68 days until the week before Nationals. Many of you (not all) know the week before Nationals as the only time throughout the year you actively care about the rule book. The week before Nationals has a long and storied history as the week people freak out and suggest a bunch of new rules. It would be great if rule proposals could be brought up and discussed before this infamous week. So if you have an idea for a new rule or rule change, please begin to bring it up and we can discuss it prior to the week before Nationals. That is all.

 

~(The following has been included per the request of Zigmas Maloni)~

Deadline for Rulebook and Policy Proposals: 2017-04-01
Submission: Post in Facecool Captains’ Club or Email to the League (ncdadodgeball@gmail.com)
Criteria: Rulebook stuff is a rule proposal. Policy stuff is everything else. The Exec Board will sort it out. Additionally, there are no limits to the amount of proposals that can be submitted per team.

Continue reading “Public Service Announcement”