UWP- Matt Bautch

An End of an Era for one of the Greats at UWP

Matt Bautch- #8

This semester, Matt Bautch, a great player and one of my best friends, graduated.  He did a lot for our team, which deserves recognition.  For the last 4 and a half years he has been one of Platteville’s best players, and most of the teams who have played against him can agree. Matt was always a very quiet individual and didn’t talk much. In our first few weeks of practice as freshmen everyone called him blue because no one knew his name (He always wore the color blue to practice, hence the nickname Blue).  I can remember walking back to the dorms at midnight after practice while I talked and he just listened.  He wasn’t much for words, but then again, he didn’t have to be, he let his play on the court do his talking.  Matt had one of the strongest arms in the league and could catch about anything thrown his way.  It was always fun watching him go up by himself and push the other team back to the back line. Continue reading “UWP- Matt Bautch”

If Nationals Bracket-Play was Today

Happy New Year to all of you in the NCDA.

As we start out this new year, I thought it would be cool to take a look at what NCDA Nationals 2017 would look like if it happened right now.

Listed below is the bracket for Nationals if it were to take place today.  In this scenario I am assuming that every team that has played an NCDA game this season will make the trip to University of Kentucky for the season’s final tournament.  Note that the seeding is based off the NCDA’s current standings.

Now, lets take a look at what the results may look like if this were the case…

Continue reading “If Nationals Bracket-Play was Today”

OPINION: The 5 most frustrating ways to get out in a match

Dodgeball, as we know, has a ton of different ways for a player to get out in a match. From what I’ve heard, most participants would say that catching a throw in the face is the hardest way to get out of a match; but is it the most frustrating way to get out? The type of eliminator that makes a player roll their eyes, groan and trudge off the court in complete frustration or disbelief? Here are my 5 most frustrating ways to get out, and I’d love to see what other people think. If you have an opinion, please add to the comments section! Continue reading “OPINION: The 5 most frustrating ways to get out in a match”

NCDA New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year to all of you dodgeballers.  As we approach 2017, I am reminded of one of the most well-known traditions that comes with changing years: New Year’s Resolutions.

While I no longer play for any college dodgeball team, I still have an idea on what some of the teams in this league should do with their “fresh start” in 2017.  So, I present to you my New Year’s Resolution suggestions for some of your favorite NCDA teams: Continue reading “NCDA New Year’s Resolutions”

Exec Meeting 2016-12-22

National Collegiate Dodgeball Association, Inc.
Minutes of an Executive Board Meeting [ABSTRACT]
Date: 2016-12-22
Time: 08:00 pm EST – 10:00 pm EST

For the full report, please view the original G-doc.

Participants:

  • Felix Perrone, President
  • Zigmas Maloni, Director of Officiating (requestor)
  • Jacob Leski, Director of League Expansion and Retention
  • Colin Hiatt, Director of Nationals
  • Mike McNicholas, Treasurer

Agenda:

  1. Introduction and Review of Previous Meeting Minutes [President]
  2. Treasurer’s Report [Treasurer]
  3. Policy and Organization [President]
  4. Growth of the League [DoLR]
  5. Nationals Update [DoN]
  6. Records and Officiating [DoO]
  7. Website and Content [CoC]
  8. Notes for Next Meeting [DoO]
  9. Adjournment [President]

Team Spotlight: Penn State

For the newest addition in our Team Spotlight series we take a look at the Penn State University Dodgeball Club.  The team out of University Park, PA has been a member of the NCDA since April 12, 2013.  I had the opportunity to talk with Club President, Jeff Schwartz, about his squad and the upcoming semester.

Continue reading “Team Spotlight: Penn State”

Mid-Season Thoughts

Well folks, we are at the halfway point in the NCDA season.  Schools are off for the holidays, and no NCDA matches will be played until mid January. This is one of the many constants in college dodgeball, a time at mid-season for teams to reflect on what transpired in the fall semester, and what is still to come in the winter/spring.

Following up on a fantastic article by Hunter Ford on his bold predictions, I will briefly reflect on the fall semester and give some predictions for the rest of the season.  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to attend as many tournaments as I would have liked in the fall, so maybe you will trust Hunter’s predictions over mine.  But I have seen enough to be confident in the statements I am about to make.  Here are some of my thoughts at the halfway point in yet another exciting season of collegiate dodgeball:

Continue reading “Mid-Season Thoughts”

Bold Predictions for the Spring

There have been a lot of major developments in the league just within this past semester.  We have seen the appearance of some brand new teams, the emergence of teams who were once pushovers but now look like legitimate contenders, and some new players have stepped into the spotlight.  Overall, this was a very successful semester in the NCDA, in large part thanks to leadership from across all teams in the league.

Now is where things start to intensify.  We are inching closer and closer to Nationals, and there are a lot of teams and people to watch out for this upcoming semester.  In order to stir the pot and get people thinking, I wanted to throw out some of what I consider to be bold predictions.  Feel free to ridicule me in the comments below.

Continue reading “Bold Predictions for the Spring”

NCDA moves to the Gonzalez System

CHICAGO – Office of the Director of Officiating (and Records): The NCDA Executive Board has voted to move to a new ranking system. This new system is closely based on the earlier “Gonzalez System” and the new Gonzalez System will replace a combination of four different systems, which was used in seeding the Tournament Bracket for Nationals 2014, 2015, and 2016. The vote concluded on 2016-10-24; the motion carried 3-1, with one abstention, plus Director of Nationals assent.

For the full detail of the Gonzalez System, see its Policy documentation. See below for a short and simple explanation of the system. Continue reading “NCDA moves to the Gonzalez System”

Standings as of 2016-12-05

As UW-Whitewater joins the NCDA as the 44th School to compete, we now have 29 active teams listed in the Standings. We only had 3 matches played in the West since the last Standings post.

Win Loss Exchange
UWP (40.417) DePaul (37.857) 0.744
DePaul (37.113) UWW (40.000+3) 1.589 (90.85%)
UWP (41.161) UWW (38.411+3) 1.025 (4.25%)

To start backwards, UWP’s slight, technical upset win over a home UWW netted them 1.025 Gonzalez points and was 211th of 221 total upsets. That’s the low 4th percentile.

DePaul’s upset win over the home court boosted UWW have the teams exchanging 1.589 in a relatively close match. It is close to the 91st percentile, with just 19 upsets greater than it. We should look out for another UWW/DePaul matchup when Whitewater has more games under their belt (at least 6).

A UWW venue is the most neutral location for a UWP/DePaul matchup (just a two hour drive!) and marks great potential for a new event location, as long as UW Whitewater gets gym space sorted out. This weekend marks the 10th time UWP and DePaul have played, although they’ve played a few times before accurate record keeping started in 2010. UWP is 10-0 versus DePaul, with 3 of those being minor upset wins and even two where UWP topped a DePaul home team. This year DePaul has a much closer rating to UWP, who still leads that middle section of the Standings along with VCU.

  1. 2013-03-02: UWP takes 1.330 on DePaul (Home)
  2. 2010-10-23: UWP takes 1.159 at WIU
  3. 2016-10-16: UWP takes 1.146 on DePaul (Home)
  4. 2016-12-04: UWP takes 0.744 at UWW
  5. 2016-09-24: UWP takes 0.663 (adjusted) in OT at UNL
  6. 2013-10-20: UWP takes 0.647 on DePaul at SAU
  7. 2014-03-08: UWP takes 0.485 on DePaul (Home)
  8. 2013-11-09: UWP takes 0.423 on DePaul at UNL
  9. 2015-09-19: UWP (home) takes 0.072 on DePaul
  10. 2016-02-20: UWP (home) takes 0.010 on DePaul Continue reading “Standings as of 2016-12-05”

Interesting Midseason Statistics

Following the Whitewater Winter Bash at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UWW) on December 4th, there are no more scheduled tournaments for the remainder of the 2016 calendar year.  This has certainly been an active year in the NCDA, with many brand new teams, even more tournaments, and overall, tons of dodgeball.  As a result, I wanted to take the time to highlight some of the league leaders in some interesting stats (or at least what I thought was interesting) over the course of this season.  With that being said, let’s take a look at some of these “key” stats.

Continue reading “Interesting Midseason Statistics”

Whitewater Winter Basher Recap

On December 4, 2016 Platteville, Whitewater, and DePaul came together to play in the Whitewater Winter Basher in Whitewater, Wisconsin. With Whitewater’s first game, the league officially added another club and Platteville is no longer the only team from Wisconsin.  Let’s take a look at the results of the games played.  Continue reading “Whitewater Winter Basher Recap”

Midseason Questions by Region

The last tournament of the first half of the season took place this past weekend in Wisconsin. With that, I thought it’s time to look across the league and review the first semester as well as look forward to the second half of this season by posing some questions for the regions in the NCDA.

Continue reading “Midseason Questions by Region”