Author: Zigmister

DePaul Dodgeball #68 & NCDA Director of Officiating

CMU Dodgetober Fest Exchanges

A quick preview here:

CMU at home is a given a hefty boost, but is not out of range for MSU. If we take away this home court advantage, both teams are neck and neck. An MSU / SVSU match on neutral court isn’t out of reach for a SV upset. Pretty close, only about 5 points difference in ratings.

Good points can be gained for SV by upsetting either competitor. I’ve mentioned it before but it remains true with each new match: out of any team in Michigan, SV gains the most from winning.

High Seed Low Seed Rating Rating Predicted Exchange Exchange if Upset
CMU MSU 52.484 49.308 0.682 1.318
CMU SVSU 53.167 43.968 0.080 1.920
MSU SVSU 48.625 43.888 0.526 1.474

Summit Street Slugfest Exchanges

Miami rejoins the NCDA after two seasons of inactivity. This is of great credit to a freshman who last played for Miami at Nationals 2014. It is also the first time a team will return after this sort of inactivity, in the history of the NCDA. Miami finished the 2014 Season with 33.208, and through two “regression to the means” Miami will reenter the 2017 season with a 37.987 rating. This will put Miami at about #17 in this week’s standings.

In terms of this third Summit Street Slugfest, the parity is spotty. We have a few potential minimum value matches here, but yet the same number of close ones. Akron, Miami, and BGSU are part of a highly competitive section of ratings and will see good competition in their matches. But OSU and Kent are old rivals, having participated in the first intercollegiate dodgeball match in history. They are the heavyweights of the day, Kent moreso with a home court boost.  Continue reading “Summit Street Slugfest Exchanges”

Pumpkin Smash 2k16 Exchanges

Pumpkin Smash has become the fall mainstay, and here we have a small event with everyone current to Virginia… plus Towson. This will be the first matches of the Season for JMU and UVA.

An interesting observation, both UVA and VCU are potential contenders come their scheduled third round match, but the end weight of that match relies on the previous rounds. VCU has one of the smallest gaps on JMU in the history between these two in-state rivals. While VCU has gained ground this season, JMU’s historical rating lends them the favor. A VCU upset in the second round would be a good boost for their program, and cause an even larger gap for UVA in the third round.

JMU / Towson shares a similar outcome. As predicted, this match will be the closest of the day, but that relies on prior victories on VCU and UVA. Continue reading “Pumpkin Smash 2k16 Exchanges”

Pink Out 2: The Exchange Strikes Back

pink-out-2016-small
Courtesy of Nick Irhin [Akron]
Akron holds a second Pink Out and I would love for this to continue as tradition. They’re in a great geographical position. But even more, Akron has some positive vibes to bring in some great competitors. For this event, we see three out of state teams and all these matches have good values on the Gonzalez exchange. The average rating gap is just 4.417, so our competitors have some great matches ahead of them this weekend.  Continue reading “Pink Out 2: The Exchange Strikes Back”

Party on Fifth Avenue Recap

By Nate Sexauer, Assistant Captain of Ohio University

In an ambitious move for a first-year NCDA team, Pitt kicked off its legacy with a home tournament, something few league teams can claim to have done. Welcoming them into the fold on a brisk October afternoon were Kent State, Akron, and Ohio University. How did each team do? Let’s take a quick look.

Why not start with the hosts? For a freshly minted team, Pitt made their lofty ambitions known. While they only garnered one point from the affair (coming against Akron), they flashed sparks of great potential.  Led by Katie Milliken, who deserves high praise for organizing both a team and a tournament in time for the start of the season, the team showed off a lot of very strong arms and extremely agile players. Of course, Pitt still suffered from pure lack of experience, something Ohio can relate to. That is something that can be obtained solely through time and travel, however. The raw talent is definitely there, so look for Pitt to make an impression early and often.  Continue reading “Party on Fifth Avenue Recap”

Standings as of 2016-10-03

Towson records team record. Towson adds 2.172 to their rating with their three wins at VCU this weekend. They climb to 46.620 and can claim an all time high rating for the team. They are now 6-0 over their two events this season, with the best record in college dodgeball this season, and can claim the #4 spot in the Gonzalez Standings.

The Lower Septenary Teams. There is a competitive and better half of the league that is worth paying attention to. Pitt enters the League standings with a 36.057 rating and #23 placement, and UMD drops to #18 after losing 0.956 after going 0-3 this weekend. This places the two teams into a very competitive bracket that ranges from #18-24. Only 3.873 separates the lowest and highest ratings here, or some 4 quality wins. As long as these teams aren’t playing a team greater than #9, I’d expect to see these ratings shuffle over the season. Very easy to bust out. Akron has already done so, climbing into #13 from #17 last week.  Continue reading “Standings as of 2016-10-03”

Final on Clean Blocking Rule

Good people, after many conversations with multiple people and the rest of the Executive Board, we have reached a final interpretation of the Clean Blocking rule.

As it might appear in the Rulebook

1. Blocking – A Target can use a dodgeball to block any direct throw. However, the blocking dodgeball(s) must remain secure after being hit, and the ricochet must not hit the blocking Target’s body.

1.1 Knockout – If a blocking ball becomes dislodged, the Target must regain possession before the dislodged ball becomes dead. Failure results in a Loss of Possession [3.4.3.1] and the Target is ruled out.

1.2 Dirty Block – If the ricochet hits the blocking Target, a catch must be made on the ricochet before the ball becomes dead. Failure will result in the Target being ruled out.

1.2.1 Block Assisted Personal Catch – If the blocking Target catches the ricochet, it counts as a Personal Catch (new phrase for a Direct Catch). A player from the Target’s jail comes back into play. The Thrower is out.
Note: The play must be isolated to the blocking Target. Once the ricochet hits a teammate, it is only eligible for a Team Catch.
1.2.2 Block Assisted Team Catch – If a teammate of the Target catches the ricocheted ball before it becomes dead, it is deemed a Block Assisted Team Catch. A player from the Target’s jail comes back into play. Neither the Target nor the Thrower are out.  Continue reading “Final on Clean Blocking Rule”

Pitt slated to become 40th Member Team

pitt-logoThis Saturday, the University of Pittsburgh Dodgeball Club hosts their first tournament and will become the 40th collegiate dodgeball organization to play in the NCDA. Pitt’s Induction Match is the first match of the day and their opponent is the honorable Akron, who joined as the 35th club who joined November 2014. Rounding out the competitors are Ohio and Kent, which will make for a great set of matches for any new team.

I am looking forward to the Pitt/Ohio match because new team matchups are always a highlight for me. I think this will be much more competitive than the current Gonzalez rating suggests, and I will actively compare this upcoming game to future meetings between the two teams.

I’m also looking at Kent/Akron as a good match. These two teams are basically coming from the same area, traveling a similar distance, and playing on a neutral but unfamiliar court. That sets up a great story in this author’s humble opinion.

Continue reading “Pitt slated to become 40th Member Team”

Standings as of 2016-09-27

For these standings we use the revamped Gonzalez system, but I also included the time honored Champ system for ease of reference. There’s currently a discussion and vote going in the Executive Board for alterations to our NCDA Ranking Algorithm, which has been used for seeding the Nationals bracket for 2016 and 2015 (plus a proto system used for 2014). The accuracy for the Nationals bracket for the two years was 93.75%. The predictive accuracy for the new Gonzalez system is currently 80.16% (196 technical upsets / 988 ranked matches).  Continue reading “Standings as of 2016-09-27”