Results of the 2018 Pre-Season Proposals

CHICAGO – Office of the Director of Officiating:

Below are the results of the preferential election for the 2017/2018 NCDA Rulebook and select Policies. The Rulebook is scheduled to be released prior to the start of the 2018 Season. Extra special thanks to the 30 Member Teams that submitted ballots, with only two Member Teams missing. 

Rule Proposals

R3 12 v 12 (by Perrone/O’Brien) (Articles by Zander, and Meisel/Bailey) – Size of the Game – 15 players or 12 players on the Court?
A: Roster size is 8-16. Active players are 8-12 [NEW]
20 to 10

R4 Shot Clock Officiating Mechanics – Should Shot Clock Officials be exclusively responsible for distinguishing a legitimate attempt to reset the Shot Clock?
A: Yes, a Shot Clock Official determines a legitimate attempt to reset the Shot Clock, exclusively. The Head/ Assistant Referee cannot override the
Shot Clock Official mid count. [NEW]
17 to 13

R5 Shot Clock Terminology – Should the Shot Clock only count up?
A: No, the Shot Clock may count either up or down, at the preference of the team. [Current]
17 to 13
Note: The Officiating mechanics regarding this will be rewritten to better accommodate the exact process of counting so it is consistent whether the official is counting up or down.

R7 Blood Rule – How do we handle the Shot Clocks when play is stopped for blood and a bloody player cannot clean up in 60 seconds?
A: Call an Officials’ Timeout. Both Shot Clocks are reset.
28 to 2
Note: The current “Blood Rule” is incomplete and vague. It will be rewritten and expanded with a necessary Blood Protocol. This vote concerned what happens to the Shot Clock counts.

R8 Number of Captains – Should teams be allowed any combination of 4 Captains?
A: Yes, teams may designate a combination of 4 Captains and Assistant Captains; e.g. 1C, 0A. Or 1C, 3A. Or 2C, 2A (must have at least one Captain). [NEW]
20 to 10

Policy Proposals

P2 Proposal – Should teams meet a game requirement for Nationals participation?
A: In order to be eligible to participate at Nationals, Teams must play a
minimum of 3 games during the Season. [NEW]
17 to 13

P3 Senior Eligibility for Nationals
A: Players who earn a degree within the academic year prior to Nationals may play at Nationals providing;
a) That player does not violate his or her school’s criteria [2.3.1.1.1.1 Institutional Eligibility],
b) The Executive Board approves that player’s request to play.
24 to 6
Note: Institutional requirements supersede any eligibility requirements of the NCDA.

P4 Member Team Voting Rights
A: Any team granted Member Team status may vote. [Current]
16 to 14

P8 Nationals Scheduling
A: Participants will play a minimum of 3 matches on Saturday, but will be scheduled for more if time allows. [Current]
18 to 12

P6 Nationals Bracket Format 
A: All teams play in a Championship Bracket. Each team receives at least one game. [Current]
<preferential ballot>

The Nationals Bracket Format included five options that were ranked in order of preference according to our preferential election format of Single Transferable Vote. The most preferred option was the Current format by a very narrow margin. The next most preferred being the Top 12 play in a Championship Bracket, with the remaining teams playing in a consolation bracket.

Round 1:
Current: 13 votes
Top 12 & Consolation: 13 votes
Top 12 & Extra games: 2 votes
Top 8 & Consolation: 1 vote
Top 8 & Extra games: 1 vote
Two options are tied at 13 first preference votes. The other three options failed to gain more than two first preference votes and were defeated, being mathematically certain to be defeated no matter how their votes transfer. The ballots that voted for these defeated candidates as first preference were transferred to the next surviving preference on their ballot.

Round 2:
Current: 15 votes (14 second preferences)
Top 12 & Consolation: 15 votes (13 second preferences)
After the ballots were recounted on the transferred votes, the candidates are tied. The tie breaker between them was a result of the amount of second preferences either option had after the votes were transferred from the defeats in Round 1. Top 12 is declared defeated in this tie breaker, giving Current the win in Round 3.

The preferential election ballot file and results may be found through the magic of Google.

Final Counts

Thank you to all Member Teams that submitted ballots. There were no tied counts for the Executive Board to vote on to break the tie. No measures by the Executive Board to overturn a result succeeded, so the results of this preferential election will become valid 2017-08-10. Any necessary written documentation (published policies, Bylaws, or Rulebook) will be published prior to the start of the 2018 Season.

Author: Zigmister

DePaul Dodgeball #68 & NCDA Director of Officiating

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.