Category: Previews

2018 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview

Photo Credit - Alan Holben
The 14th Annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup will take place this Sunday at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

This Sunday, Michigan State University will host one of the most significant tournaments of the season: The 14th Annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup.  In attendance this year will be 3 of the top 10 teams in the country according to the official NCDA Standings (and the most recent power rankings).

#1 Central Michigan (also #1 in the Power Rankings), #2 Grand Valley State (#2 PR), and #10 Michigan State (#8 PR) all bring a different dynamic to this tournament, as it promises to be an intriguing set of games.

Before we get into the preview, the schedule for this tournament is listed below:

10:15 a.m. – MSU vs. GVSU

11:30 a.m. – CMU vs. MSU

12:45 p.m. – GVSU vs. CMU

Now, on to the preview.  Let’s start by talking briefly about each team in attendance. Continue reading “2018 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview”

Status Quo Ante Bellum, 2018

The state existing before the war

In the same way I explored last year, I will preview the War happening this weekend at Akron. This year Akron plays host again, with some new teams brought into the mix.

Rating Team Record
48.815 (#3) Kent 8-4
48.483 (#4) JMU 7-2
48.360 (#5) BGSU 13-5
47.240 (#6) Towson 14-3
45.802 (#7) SVSU 6-9
41.632 (#11) VCU 5-6
41.525 (#12) PSU 3-3
40.227 (#14) Ohio 12-10
40.000 (–) WVU Inducting
38.218 (#23) Miami 6-4
36.364 (#33) Akron (H) 4-11
35.181 (#34) CSU 3-7

I’ve marked this as opinion, since a predictive pre-event preview article deals with a lot of predictive analysis. It is different than the quantitative approach of the Standings. When we work with predictions, we can only be so accurate until the opinion floats in.

First, some housekeeping. Continue reading “Status Quo Ante Bellum, 2018”

Previewing the Most Anticipated Events of the Second Half of the Season

The second half of the 2017-18 season will be here in no time, and there are already plenty of tournaments on the docket.  Below I have ranked the five most anticipated tournaments of the winter / spring.  This list is just my opinion, so feel free to comment with your own list.  Now time to preview the top 5 events I am looking forward to, listed in order of importance:

5) Oregon State Tournament @ Oregon State University – Feb. 3, 2018

Continue reading “Previewing the Most Anticipated Events of the Second Half of the Season”

Midland Mayhem Invitational

If you have not guessed it, another weekend is upon us and that means tournament time. This time the new kids on the block, Midland University will be hosting their first ever home tournament, The Midland Mayhem Invitational at the Wikert Event Center/ Hopkins Arena, (900 North Clarkson St. Fremont, Nebraska 68025) on Saturday, November 11, 2017.  The teams in attendance will be: the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL), University of Wisconsin- Platteville (UWP), and Midland University (MU).  It’s a battle in the Midway Conference and the question is, who will reign supreme?  Will it be the Warriors who are just getting the hang of things, the Cornhuskers who are coming off a win against Midland or the Pioneers who took a beat down at the King of the Mountain ( According to Anthony Goetz, there is a plaque for the winners, Midland really goes all out).  Let’s take a look at the schedule and a preview of the matches.      Continue reading “Midland Mayhem Invitational”

Spartan Invite- NCDA

This Sunday, November 5, 2017, Michigan State University will be hosting the Spartan Invite. It is a tradition to host this event on a Sunday and it should be a good one (marks the ninth in MSU history). The teams in attendance are: Central Michigan University (CMU), Michigan State University (MSU), DePaul University (DePaul), and Bowling Green State University (BGSU). The rankings of these teams currently stand at: CMU #1, MSU #9, DePaul #27, and BGSU #5.  The games will be played at the IM West at Michgan State (393 Chestnut Road, East Lansing, MI)  Here is the schedule for the day: Continue reading “Spartan Invite- NCDA”

King of the Mountain Tournament 2

Well, it is the weekend and that means it is tournament time with some of the top teams in the country going head to head at the King of the Mountain 2.  This means it is time for another preview by the top content writer in the NCDA. (I know Kevin Bailey, Colby Briceland, and Hunter Ford are jealous, as they should be).

The teams in attendance are: Central Michgan University (CMU), Grand Valley State University (GVSU), Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), James Madison University, (JMU), and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP). These teams are currently ranked: CMU #1, GVSU #2, JMU #3, SVSU #6, and UWP #10. Here is the schedule for this Saturday, November 4, 2017, at the Student Activity Center (360 E Broomfield St. Mount Pleasant, MI 48858).

Court 1 Court 2 Referee
11:00 CMU vs GVSU SVSU vs JMU UWP
12:10 CMU vs JMU UWP vs GVSU SVSU
1:20 CMU vs UWP SVSU vs GVSU JMU
2:30 GVSU vs JMU UWP vs SVSU CMU

Continue reading “King of the Mountain Tournament 2”

Pacific Northwest Schools to Join the NCDA

SPOKANE, WA – Gonzaga Club Dodgeball will host Oregon State University Dodgeball Club (Corvallis, OR) in a double header this Saturday to open up the Northwest region. They are the last two of four teams to make their Induction Matches this weekend. Continue reading “Pacific Northwest Schools to Join the NCDA”

The Platteville Supertastic Dodgeball to Your Face Kiss Your Butt Goodbye Explosionfest Invitational

Well, ladies and gentlemen, as always it is your favorite content writer coming to you with another preview.  It is Platteville’s home tournament this weekend on Saturday October 28, 2017 at the Williams Fieldhouse (350 Jay St, Platteville, WI 53818). Three teams will be in attendance: UW-Platteville (UWP), DePaul and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUe). This will be SIUe’s Induction match into the league and it could not be with two better teams to show them how to play the game of dodgeball. Below is the schedule for the day for: The Platteville Supertastic Dodgeball to your Face Kiss Your Butt Goodbye Explosionfest Invitational (Tournament name, courtesy of Will Martin- former freshman and sophomore sensation and now junior sensation). Continue reading “The Platteville Supertastic Dodgeball to Your Face Kiss Your Butt Goodbye Explosionfest Invitational”

Midland Induction Match

FREMONT, NE – YMCA: Midland will be joining the League this Saturday the 28th as they host visiting team Nebraska Lincoln. Warmup is scheduled to begin at 10:00am, followed by a mixed scrimmage to acclimate to the NCDA ruleset. At 12:00pm UNL will face Midland in the Induction Match. Lincoln and Fremont are just an hour drive apart, so we hope to be seeing these teams thrive together.

I posted a few questions to Tanner and Anthony about this upcoming Saturday.  Continue reading “Midland Induction Match”

BGSU Invitational Preview

The Following was written by reid manger (BGSU):

The 2017-2018 NCDA season is in full force midway through the first semester. With well over 50 matches played so far during the year, this has arguably been the most exciting (certainly most active) season the NCDA has seen to date. With that in mind, it should be no surprise to see even more activity taking place this weekend at Bowling Green State University (otherwise known as BSGU) (no, unfortunately that isn’t a typo). The following six varsity teams will be in attendance: BGSU, OU, OSU, CSU, Towson, and UK. Although primarily an Ohio tournament, the introduction of a couple competitive out of state opponents gives this tournament a bit of flare. In the paragraphs to come, I will give a brief summary of each team, their upcoming opponents, a few interview questions, and end it with my own personal predictions of how things will shake out.

Continue reading “BGSU Invitational Preview”

World Dodgeball Federation Preview

Written by Kenny Mize

THE NCDA TAKES ON THE WORLD!! October 21st-22nd

The World Dodgeball Championships are this weekend, and the NCDA was privileged to receive an invitation to play in this event from Duane Wysynski, President of Dodgeball Canada.

The NCDA will be fielding two teams during this event, USA Blue and USA Red. The two teams are led by two of most experienced dodgeball players in the NCDA. Kenneth Mize (Saginaw Valley) will be leading the USA Blue team, while Jeff Starr (Ohio State) will be leading the USA Red squad. Selecting the teams were hard, we had some long and fierce deliberation between Jeff and Myself. The teams were hard to pick but after a few days we finally figured out our teams. Here I will now go into the depth about the teams and the strengths of each team, also I will include who was our number 1 pick and why for each team. Continue reading “World Dodgeball Federation Preview”

Georgian Civil War II – Gonzalez Preview

North and South are back at it again. Our two college teams in Georgia are meeting for another Civil War double header in Statesboro. In case you were wondering, North Georgia has the Nighthawk and Georgia Southern the Eagle.

The first Georgian Civil War was an induction match for both teams (#42 and #43), with UNG coming out with both wins.

North Georgia starts off with a 37.119, and Georgia Southern starts off with a 37.489 and is given a +1 for home court advantage. That gives GSU the small favor here, but the matches are far from predictive with such a shallow Rating Gap (1.370). Because we have only two matches, we can talk about all the possibilities.  Continue reading “Georgian Civil War II – Gonzalez Preview”

Gauntlet Tournament Preview

This Sunday, a handful of historically strong college dodgeball teams will congregate at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena on the campus of Grand Valley State University for the ‘Gauntlet’ dodgeball tournament.  As has become the norm, GVSU will be hosting a fall tournament that will provide much more clarity to where each Michigan school stands at this point in the year, because all four Michigan teams will be in attendance.  Along with these four squads from the state of Michigan, we also will see Kent State University in the building on Sunday.  Before I get into my preview, the schedule for this weekend’s clash in Allendale, Michigan is listed below:

Main Court East Court West Court Ref
11:15 GVSU v Kent CMU v MSU SVSU
12:30 GVSU v CMU SVSU v Kent Comb-JV v GV-JV MSU
1:45 CMU v SVSU Kent v MSU GVSU
3:00 GVSU v SVSU GV-JV v MSU CMU

Continue reading “Gauntlet Tournament Preview”

Cornhusker Clash

By: Erik Zander (UWP) & Ryan Atz (DePaul)

It’s another year and the University of Lincoln Nebraska is holding the Cornhusker Clash on September 30, 2017.  It will involve three teams: Nebraska, DePaul and Platteville.  The games will start at 9:00a.m. with a JV match for the first year players followed by the varsity games. Here is the schedule for Saturday.

Teams Time Referee
JV Game (New players) 9:00a to 10:00a Miscellaneous
UNL vs DePaul 10:15a to 11:15a UWP
UWP vs DePaul 11:30a to 12:30p UNL
UNL vs UWP 12:45p to 1:45p DePaul
Scrimmage against Midland University 2:00p to 3:00p Miscellaneous

In order to get a little more background on the teams, Ryan and I interviewed the captains of each squad.  Let’s take a look at what each captain had to say about this tournament and what they are expecting.  Continue reading “Cornhusker Clash”

First East Coast Showdown: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This past weekend MSU opened up the 2017-18 NCDA season with the EA tournament in East Lansing, MI.  There were certainly some interesting surprises, but the main point is that dodgeball is back!  Now, it is the first chance for some East Coast schools to show what they’re all about.

This Saturday, Towson University has the pleasure of hosting the first event of the season which will also include Stevenson University and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).  Towson comes in as the top rated team after having their best season ever last year followed by VCU and Stevenson.  This will be their opportunity to flex their muscle against some familiar opponents and start the year strong.  That being said, Stevenson and VCU won’t make it easy, and are each looking for a statement win.  Let’s take a look at some things to watch with each team, from the good to the bad, and even the ugly.

Continue reading “First East Coast Showdown: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”