This Saturday, March 8th the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC) will be hosting its first ever home tournament and we should be in for a good one. The teams in attendance will be the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP), University of Cincinnati (UC), Miami University (Miami), and Cleveland State University (CSU). Let’s take a look at the schedule and teams below.
UC-Cincinnati is #9 in the standings and will be playing UIUC, UWP, and Miami. Their toughest opponent will be the Miami RedHawks, who have got the best of them in every matchup this season. With the first 2 games going 3-1, and the most recent game finishing 3-2 in overtime at the Ohio Dodgeball Cup. Do the Bearcats have what it takes this time to get the win against Miami? UC can go 3-0 on the weekend, but they will need to bring it. As long as they play their best, they shouldn’t have any issues getting wins against less experienced teams UWP and UIUC. The biggest thing for them is to not take either lightly as they will capitalize on those opportunities.
Miami-Miami is coming into the weekend at #2 in the standings and they will be playing 4 games against UWP, UC, UIUC, and CSU. This will be a tough schedule and a lot of games to play but as a team that could contend for a title, this is a good test to see how well they can handle it. If they finish the weekend with a 4-0 record with out struggling, they should feel good heading into nationals as they will have the stamina and arms to compete on Sunday. They will be bringing a younger team and missing a few key players, but they will be competitive and have several weapons to use on the court.
UIUC– Illinois has been a great surprise this year and they currently sit at #8 in the league standings and this weekend will be a good test to see if they truly belong there as they will be playing CSU, Miami, and UC. All of them are very experienced teams with a lot of talent. UIUC has their own talent as well that I believe will be able to compete with all of these units. They have solid throwers and some excellent catchers that can catch anything that comes there way. UIUC is coming off a couple of wins from last weekend’s Zanderthon Throw-Down and will look to continue that trend. They have home court advantage and will have a full roster so they will be at full strength. Illinois is ready to go and we will see some great play from them this weekend.
CSU-The Vikings come in at #18 in the standings and as the host of this year’s nationals they were looking to get out and travel for a tournament and see some opponents they normally wouldn’t to test themselves. CSU will be playing UIUC, UWP, and Miami. Although, they will not a full roster for this event, they are bringing a very experienced squad with only 1 rookie. This team has made huge strides this year and continue to grow and get better at each event. The team has all the skill and talent to go 3-0, they just need to put it together. CSU will see a tough game with UWP as they beat them in last year’s consolation championship game and the Pioneers will be looking to get even. CSU can compete with Miami too as they only lost to them by 1 point in their only meeting this season.
UWP-UWP comes in at #20 in the standings and will be playing CSU, UC, and Miami. For the Pioneers, this weekend is all about testing themselves and seeing where they are at as a club heading into nationals. Obviously, they would like to win, but the most important thing for them is getting in experience that they don’t normally get to see. The Pioneers need to find a way to work as a team, build up their confidence in their abilities, and find a way to compete. The focus after this tournament will need to be on the progress made rather than the outcomes or results of these games. Platteville when they are playing their strategy, are focused, and communicating, they can play with the best and make it tough on anyone.
Last Thoughts– The Illini Impact will have some great teams in attendance and we should be in for some really competitive matches. The games will be streamed on the leagues YouTube channel that can be found at the following link below. Make sure to subscribe to the channel so that you get a notification when the games go live (College Dodgeball)!