The Central Region is shaping up to be one of the most exciting landscapes in college dodgeball. Illinois is quickly rising into contention, signaling a shift in power as fellow Big Ten program Nebraska-Lincoln comes down from its reign of dominance. With several prospective schools showing interest and momentum building across the board, the region is expanding at a rapid pace—rivaling even the South as the fastest-growing hotspot in the league.
Team Previews
Illinois
Preseason Ranking: 13
Preseason Regional Rank: 1
2024-25 Record: 8-7
2024-25 Nationals Results: 1st round of championship bracket
Illinois is truly an up-and-coming team, and it’s thanks to their hard work and dedication to playing hard and fast. Their numbers increased from the season before last, and their skill level greatly increased as well. A noteworthy player is Charles Cardenas, who made number one on the All-Central Region Team last season. His management of the team has really pushed them to do their best and grow at the rate they have.
When it comes to room for improvement, their struggle is having patience on court which leads them to throwing solo attacks when other strategies could be utilized. While their hastiness isn’t always a bad thing, it played a significant role in the games they played at the Illini Impact tournament as well as Nationals. They make up for their frequent throwing by being a catching powerhouse. Let’s also hope for a large rookie class to ensure the club stays alive and successful once the leaders inevitably graduate.
Hopefully, this season they will be able to hone some additional skills that will help them push further up the standings as well as their placement at this season’s national tournament.
UW-Platteville
Preseason Ranking: 17
Preseason Regional Rank: 2
2024-25 Record: 7-14
2024-25 Nationals Results: Consolation Bracket Winner
UWP only lost two players to graduation, and the returners have strong knowledge in both pinch dodgeball and no-sting from helping the first women’s team participate in. Their experience in both play styles has helped them realize where they need to work harder to improve, and their hard work over the last season has begun to pay off. This year is their time to go from winning the consolation bracket to placing in the championship bracket in pinch and hopefully win more games at Women’s Nationals!
One of UWP’s goals was to beat a Michigan team, an Ohio team, and UIUC at least once, but they were unsuccessful. While they beat WMU day two of nationals to win the consolation bracket, they were unable to beat either Ohio teams they played (Miami and Cincinnati), and they were unable to beat UIUC even after playing them four times. Additionally, last year’s rookie class wasn’t very large, so here’s hoping to a bigger recruiting class for both pinch and no-sting.
With the additional team now in the Central region, hopefully UWP will have the chance to play more tournaments in their area. Additionally, more tournaments like the one hosted by UIUC should bring in more eastern teams and give UWP the opportunity to play them. If given this opportunity, they are sure to perform well this season.
Nebraska
Preseason Ranking: 21
Preseason Regional Rank: 3
2024-25 Record: 3-5
2024-25 Nationals Results:1st round of championship bracket
The Cornhuskers are currently rebuilding and in search of more committed players to stick around so the team can gain stability. With how young their current players are, there isn’t much experience on the team anymore, but they plan to get back on the road for more tournaments to quickly regain that experience. UNL hopes to quickly get back to the team they were known to be, and the addition in the team in the Central region will hopefully get them there. One of the great things about this team is that they only lost a few players to graduation and most of the team is returning. This should help them accelerate the rebuild and with a few key rookies, they should be back to pushing their way back to being the top team in the region. Corn and protein baby, they will be back!
UW-Stout
Preseason Ranking: 24
Preseason Regional Rank: 4
2024-25 Record: 0-2
2024-25 Nationals Finish: N/A
Stout is still a very young team with not many members. They are also limited to who they get to play with how far away from any tournament they are. Most frequently, they are able to play UWP and UWEC when at home, and sometimes they get to play UIUC when they travel down to Platteville. Hopefully they will be able to recruit some new faces this year to round out their roster and we’d like to see them at some bigger name tournaments and maybe even nationals.
Prospective Teams
UW-Eau Claire
UW-Eau Claire is the newest team in Wisconsin trying to join the league, previously breaking away from their sister team UW-Stout. They often played as a mixed team with Stout at away tournaments like the Pioneer Classic and Zanderthon Throwdown, but we hope they will further gain independence as team by playing on their own. Their experience is mainly in the no-sting or foam formats, but over the past year and a half, UWP has been showing them the NCDA format and they are excited for a new year. UWEC is looking to push recruitment hard this season and gain a lot of new members. They also hope to create their first women’s team of their own this season! We hope to see further improvement for them as they continue to play in the NCDA.
University of Iowa
There isn’t much to say about the University of Iowa due to this season being their first ever. What I can say is a few of their board members have made an effort to make it to a few NDA tournaments over the summer to see first hand what the game is like. For example, Iowa’s content writer Jack Birmingham came out to a tournament hosted by the Pickaxers at Carrol University. He was able to learn by playing several games. He said he had a lot of fun and was already hoping to improve a variety of skills. It was a lot of fun to play alongside him that day. The Iowa board has been putting in a lot of work before school starts and it is putting them in a place to have a successful first season! They will be attending the scholarship tournament put on UWP to gain experience to bring back to their practices and get a feel for the game. We are super excited to have them join the league this fall semester!
Indiana University
Indiana has yet to hit the court, but the potential addition of the Hoosiers looms large for the NCDA. If they can get a club off the ground, Indiana would serve as a perfect bridge between the established programs in the Michigan, Ohio and Central Regions. That kind of geographic link opens the door for more inter-region play, a development that excites dodgeballers both past and present who know how important variety and travel are to growing the league.
Pre-Season OT6
Jalen Sims (UWP)
Malaki Shriner-Horne (UNL)
Samuel Lavender (UNL)
Ehis Eromosele (UIUC)
Dylan Fabry (UWP)
Alanis-Montes Alejandro (UIUC)
Pre-Season Power Rankings
- Illinois
- UW-Platteville
- Nebraska
- UW-Stout