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.
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.
Whitewater joins the NCDA
WHITEWATER – Williams Gym, Russel Court: In the Whitewater Winter Basher,
UWP def DePaul 2-0
DePaul def UWW 3-0 (Inducting)
UWP def UWW 6-0 Continue reading “Whitewater joins the NCDA”
BOTM: 2016 November
Kyle Dattelbaum-1
Liam Bartlett-18
We actually have a special treat for this month’s Baller of the Month, as we are awarding a Co-Baller of the Month award. For the month of November it is Kyle Dattelbaum and Liam Bartlett of the University of North Georgia. Both serve as captains for the team, and have had a significant impact on getting their brand new team up and running for the 2016-17 season. They are being awarded for their start-up accomplishments, along with their performance during the Dahlonega Dodgefall Fest.
Whitewater Winter Basher Preview
The Whitewater Winter Basher- December 4, 2016
Address: 907 Schwager Dr, Whitewater, Wisconsin 53190
Well, folks this marks the last NCDA event of the 2016 calendar year and it should be a good one. The Whitewater Winter Basher (hopefully there will be a lot of head bashing in these games) will involve three teams and all have met before at Platteville’s 6 vs 6 tournament back in October. The teams are Whitewater, Platteville, and DePaul. This time around though Whitewater will be experiencing their first 15 vs 15 matches and they are looking forward to it. The games will be played at the Williams Center on the Kris Russell Volleyball Arena courts. Whitewater’s induction match into the NCDA League will be against DePaul, who has participated in 5 total Induction Matches across their history. For this tournament, the Warhawks, Platteville, and DePaul will have 15 players. Our head officiating referees for Sunday will be alumni Brandon Chappell, former president of UWP Dodgeball Club and alumni Zigmas Maloni of DePaul, Director of Officiating for the NCDA. Let’s take a look at the match-ups. Continue reading “Whitewater Winter Basher Preview”
Team Spotlight: Kentucky
Welcome to the first of hopefully many articles in our new Team Spotlight series. This is where we take the time to talk to teams around the league and give them a chance to highlight some of their successes, planned events, and any other topics of interest. For this week, we have selected the University of Kentucky. I had the pleasure of interviewing their current President, Zach Parise, to get some insight on everything UK Dodgeball.
Dahlonega Dodgefall Fest Recap
The University of North Georgia hosted their very first tournament, the Dahlonega Dodgefall Fest, this past weekend (and for anyone still wondering, it’s pronounced “duh-lawn-eh-ga”). Visiting teams included Georgia Southern, Virginia Commonwealth, and Western Kentucky. It was an interesting tournament with some pleasant surprises and takeaways from the event. Ultimately, WKU came out of the event as the big winners, moving up from #12 to #10 in the Gonzalez rankings after finishing 3-0 on the weekend. Here is a quick recap of some of the observations made throughout the day, and the implications and things to watch for going forward.
Spartan Invite Recap
So two Sundays ago Michigan State hosted the Spartan Invite. Here’s a quick recap of each of the teams that attended the event. Some might question why this article didn’t come out last week. To that, I say, real life happens and sometimes you don’t get to things when you want to and better late than never. With that being said, I will go through the teams in reverse order of success from the tournament.
Standings as of 2016-11-21
With the six matches hosted by UNG this weekend, we see both of the GA region teams have 5 matches this season. We should still consider these two ratings provisional until they play a few more other teams. But for now, their ratings have floated to a better expected rating for most new teams. Continue reading “Standings as of 2016-11-21”
Goals for 2017 Nationals
To cap off this already exciting 2016- 2017 season, Nationals will be held at the University of Kentucky. The last time UK hosted Nationals, Candy Crush was popular and Liam Hemsworth broke up with Miley Cyrus. Those were much simpler times. The 2012-2013 season also saw the start of the Grand Valley streak. Will that streak end this season? I have no idea. In my opinion, this year is the most even the league has been since I have been on the court. In my bold predication and entirely unresearched opinion, the 2016- 2017 National tournament will have more upsets than any previous year. You heard it here first.
Putting aside the crystal ball, I have been told that the 2013 Nationals can be used as a template for which other Nationals have been run. Hopefully, we can improve on this template. This year, we have access to UK’s main gym, the Johnson Center, as well as its auxiliary gym, the Seaton Center. We will have access to four courts in the Johnson Center and three in the Seaton Center. All courts have brick walls on both ends and nets that run the length of the court. For the fans, one of the courts in Seaton will have bleachers and the Johnson Center has a track that circles all four courts.
Outside of the gym, Lexington has great bars and restaurants that will be happy to feed +20 smelly degenerates like you. For a nationally ranked hangover cure, try Tolly Ho. If you are looking for quantity, try Gumbo Ya Ya (Delicious Cajun food) and Hibachi Express (Chinese food). And if you are looking for regular drive-thru food, there is a Taco Bell on campus and McDonalds and Chipotle just off-campus. As for bars, I suggest Two Keys and The Stagger Inn (try a John Wall shot).
The University of Kentucky is very excited to host Nationals.
Address for Johnson Center: 434 Complex Dr, Lexington, KY 40502
BOTM: 2016 October
Michael Hinely [Towson 7-A]
The October Baller of the Month has been awarded to Towson’s Michael Hinely. The Junior serves as one of the Captains for the Towson Dodgeball Club, and has played a very big role in the continuous improvement and advancement of their program. As a friend and competitor with Hinely over the course of our careers, I can personally say this was well deserved.
Dahlonega Dodgefall Fest
This will be interesting to see. In only their first semester officially in the NCDA, the University of North Georgia (UNG) will be hosting a tournament which features themselves along with Georgia Southern University (GSU), Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and Western Kentucky University (WKU). As mentioned previously, UNG is brand new team, and so is GSU. These two teams previously faced each other in a doubleheader at GSU, but now both will get the chance to play against some veteran teams in the form of VCU and WKU. As I said before, this will be interesting to see, mainly because all of these teams currently sit in the middle of the pack standings wise. Currently, UNG, VCU, WKU, and GSU sit at #10, 11, 12, and 18 in the Gonzalez rankings respectively. Because of this, there are a lot of points to be gained this weekend for any team that emerges on top.
Standings as of 2016-11-14
We had twenty matches over two events this weekend. Dodgeball has returned to IM West for the annual Spartan Invite, and the same can be said for a reactivated Miami. BGSU set a new record for most games played in a weekend outside of Nationals (6 matches) by participating at both events this past weekend. Continue reading “Standings as of 2016-11-14”
Power Rankings Poll (Nov. 11th)
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.