Top 10 Rookie Classes in the NCDA (2014-15 Season)

ncda_logo_squareOne aspect of Division 1 college sports that is not as prominent in the NCDA is recruiting.  Unlike college football, you won’t see collegiate dodgeball teams flying private jets around the country to visit high school athletes and try to persuade them to attend their school.  You won’t see ESPN setting aside an entire day of broadcasting to cover college dodgeball’s “National Signing Day”.  Maybe someday dodgeball will be that large of a scale, but for now recruiting consists of way less than that.

While recruiting is not as noticeable in this club sport that we all know and love, it is still an extremely important part of what we do.  In fact, recruiting is the lifeblood of our club teams.  Without new members, a team will eventually die off.  Bottom line is this: Having a strong recruiting class bodes very well for the future of your program.

Below I have listed the top 10 recruiting classes in the NCDA for this past season.  I ranked these taking into account both the overall quality and the quantity of the groups.

**If a player’s name is in italics upon first reference, that indicates they were one of the top five rookies in the entire nation last season in my opinion. Continue reading “Top 10 Rookie Classes in the NCDA (2014-15 Season)”

Wes Peters’ Way Too Early Top 20

DISCLAIMER: For the 100th time, if you haven’t already please check the forums and look at the new rules that are being proposed that will be voted on for THIS UPCOMING SEASON! There are some massive changes that could be approved that will drastically change the way our beautiful (yet in big need of improvements!) game will be played!

Without further ado, here’s my painfully early, and blatantly biased top 20 for the NCDA as of this second. Continue reading “Wes Peters’ Way Too Early Top 20”

Sean Smith’s Way Too Early Predictions

Kevin Bailey and Jon Shaw have already given their takes on where they think each team belongs in the rankings for the 2015-16 season. While I have some similar views as to where some teams belong, I have some bold thoughts for what will come up this season.

Along with my “way too early” preseason rankings I will also give a ranking of where I expect each club to end up at the end of the season. Now obviously that is much too early, and there are a lot of factors that go into it, but I think I have a good idea of how next season will play out. I apologize for any misspelled names along the way

Note: If you have a ranking you’d like to post please get in contact with someone from the content team. We love getting more submissions and more activity from people around the league (Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois regions I’m looking at you). Continue reading “Sean Smith’s Way Too Early Predictions”

Jon Shaw’s “Way Too Early Top 20”

ncda_logo_squareTowson’s Jonathan Shaw gave some interesting input on his top 20 for the upcoming season.  Take a look at this great write up by Jon:

(Also: anyone else who wants to send in their opinion on the preseason ranking feel free to send them to ncdadodgeball.com or a member of the NCDA’s content team!) Continue reading “Jon Shaw’s “Way Too Early Top 20””

2015-16 Way Too Early Top 20

The 2015-16 NCDA season is still many months away, but it’s never too early to talk about dodgeball.  While their won’t be a single match played for roughly four more months, I have still decided to give my thoughts on where teams stand heading into the new year of dodgeball.  Here is my way too early top 20 for 2015-16: Continue reading “2015-16 Way Too Early Top 20”

BOTM: 2015 April

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Our final Baller of the Month for the 2014-2015 season goes to a cornerstone of the Grand Valley State University dynasty, Dylan Fettig. Dylan has been apart of this club since 2010, the final year of Grand Valley’s four year streak of winning the National Championship and had the pleasure of ending his career with another one. What might be a surprise to many is that this is Dylan’s first Baller of the Month award. Read what this All-American has to say: Continue reading “BOTM: 2015 April”

2015 Fireside Chat #01

THROUGH THE POWER of technology, we’re going to start a process where invite the PUBLIC GENERAL to converse about the proposed rules and policy that can be found on the forum. It will be about an hour long recorded event. The purpose is to start a conversation, touch base with what we are as an organization, and what we need to be in the future.

This episode’s topics:

  • Roster increases
  • the Shot Clock and Mechanics
  • Forfeits
  • the ASG
  • The format of Nationals.
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Nationals 2015 – Presidential Reflection

Now, before I start this off, you must know that in all my “Presidential” monikers (and in our many “Intern” allusions), I’m having fun. This is how I was raised by DePaul Dodgeball, but I’ve always considered titles arbitrary to the reason I need to do my duty. But in the end, I like calling my lowly Nationals hotel room the Presidential Suite. It sounds magnificent.

Let’s begin. Nationals 2015! WKU! Nick Johnson! My favorite Nationals shirt ever has been the Nationals 2011 shirt, from the first time WKU hosted Nationals. In fact, that was the first time the event was hosted outside Ohio or Michigan, and really, it was one of the very, very few times Nationals was hosted outside the state of Michigan. Coming up to the event, I was concerned if we would ever live up to that event held so long ago. But the League is in so much better straights nowadays. Everyone. Do NOT underestimate the family that consists of the League in the present day.  Continue reading “Nationals 2015 – Presidential Reflection”

Opinion: State of the NCDA

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Before I say anything, let me say what I’ve said in the title: this is a personal opinion piece, not to be taken any other way.
The NCDA just completed yet another edition of the annual national tournament. Of the three I’ve been to this one was my personal favorite (no offense intended to Kentucky and Ohio State intended, this is just the happiest I’ve been with my team afterwards). I’ll mention things about Towson later on, but overall I wanted to share my opinion on the how I think the league is doing as a whole in hopes of generating some conversation in debate. Here we go: Continue reading “Opinion: State of the NCDA”

NCDA 2015 All-American Team

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What a year of Dodgeball we had. The regular season was full of massive tournaments with turnouts from all over the nation, upsets left and right and a very even field of competition that has not happened in a long time. As usual, the most anticipated event of the year was Nationals, hosted by the fine members of Western Kentucky University. As expected, they did a fantastic job of filming and keeping to the schedule. Along with that, Nationals was full of close games and upsets that shocked many members throughout the league, thus making it a very exciting weekend. After we all had some time to gather our thoughts and get caught up with school, each member team and 3 primary officials were given a weeks time to send in a roster of 15 players that they believe should be on this year’s first ever “All-American” team. A total of 10 teams and 2 of the 3 officials selected sent in their list to comprise our All-American team.

Congratulations to the following individuals:

Continue reading “NCDA 2015 All-American Team”

Nationals 2016 Hosting Bids

For Nationals 2016, there are three schools placing a bid to host: U of Maryland, DePaul U, and Bowling Green State U. I asked each to write out a little bit concerning their bid:

Following the NCDA’s voting policy, the vote will be preferential. Teams will submit their ballot by ranking each school in order of their preference. The most preferred school will host Nationals 2016.

Voting will run from today, April 20th to April 26th, or until each Member Team casts a ballot.

Example Ballot:

1. Delta
2. Miami
3. Oakland

Continue reading “Nationals 2016 Hosting Bids”

Jonathan Shaw’s “Nationals Winners and Losers”

Winners:

Nick Johnson ran a very successful NCDA National s.
Nick Johnson ran a very successful Nationals.

Nick Johnson WKU – Simply put, he ran the smoothest Nationals I’ve seen since Towson joined the NCDA in 2011. Nick, all of the NCDA owes you a big thanks, well done buddy.

Central Michigan University – Central players might still be getting over the Finals loss to GVSU, but when you look back at the fact that exactly 2 years before Central had only brought 10 players to Nationals, and 1 year before got eliminated by University of Kentucky in the first round, you must come to the realization that a Finals appearance is a monumental step in the right direction for this program. Continue reading “Jonathan Shaw’s “Nationals Winners and Losers””