Well the best non-Nationals tournament of the year took place last Sunday. Although the Michigan Dodgeball Cup may have lacked some drama regarding which team would lift the cup, it was not short on some dramatic moments on the day. With the 2017 MDC in the books, there remains only one thing to do: start looking ahead to the 2018 MDC!
We’ve had two this week, why not a third to continue the hype? ODC is bringing 9 teams to Newark, Ohio this weekend. With more teams than any state, this looks to be a great tournament with a lot of teams having a legitimate shot at taking home the trophy. I wanted to get captain’s opinions on each of the teams, but minus all of the normal fluff you hear, so I had them give me their brutally honest opinions under cover of anonymity. With there being 3 new teams coming in, there is obviously a little less to people have to say about them, but nonetheless, here are the captain’s unfiltered thoughts about the 9 teams coming to battle this Saturday:
Well now that one ODC preview is up, why not have more? I mean, MDC basically had ESPN, CNN, FOX, CBS, Facebook, VCU’s Twitter jockeys and everyone in Michigan cover their games so another article for ODC can’t hurt at all. As most of you know, ODC will be held at a neutral location this year in my hometown of Newark OH. No homecourt advantage for any team should make for an interesting day of dodgeball, and on top of that, I was able to get a trophy back into the mix this year as well. Teams will be playing for that along with bragging rights for the year so I am more than excited for the 25th to come. Below I give some of my predictions for ODC this weekend along with a small team write up. I will go team by team against their match up for each prediction. In no particular order we start with:
The time has come once again. This will be the 7th Annual Ohio Dodgeball Cup Championship. For some teams, this championship means quite a bit. In the past three years we have seen the Ohio region grow from four teams all the way up to where we sit today at nine teams! There has been much growth along with much decline in the different programs throughout Ohio. Although maybe not as talked about as the all-important Michigan Dodgeball Cup, this tournament has seen some amazing game play and unpredictable results in the past two years.
This section will be where I as an Ohio player stick up for the Ohio teams as a whole. Although the Michigan teams and others who have had long term success in the league, i.e: James Madison and University of Kentucky, do not sleep on these Ohio teams. SVSU learned this last year in the second round of nationals when they fell to THE Ohio State University. A few of these teams could potentially pull an upset at Nationals 2017. Do not make the mistake of thinking you have a free ride out of the first round this year.
For the first time the ODC will be played at a neutral location in Newark, Ohio at the local YMCA. This was all made possible by Adam Hynes, current player and student for Ohio University. What does this mean? NO HOME COURT ADVANTAGE FOR ANYONE. Although OU still has some advantage knowing what courts to expect, no one team has played on these courts and will have that luxury a home team gets when competing. Also new this year for ODC is the trophy. The pictures look great and every team is hungry to be the first and take that thing home with them.
Let’s get real now. The Ohio teams all love each other, for the most part at least. But it is not all pictures and smiles. On the court these teams do not pull their punches. Every person wants to win and have the bragging rights for the next year in Ohio. Taking home the cup will also be a huge inspiration going into nationals in April. Time to stir the pot.
As everyone should know, there were a lot of matches played yesterday in the NCDA. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend either tournament in person, but I was able to watch most and glean a pretty good idea of how both went down and what it means for everyone. Here’s my interpretation from an outside perspective of what yesterday meant for the NCDA, and most importantly, for April. Continue reading “Outsider’s (Over)reaction Monday”
RICHMOND – Cary Street Gym: In the Maryland/Virginia Border War,
TU-JV def VCU-JV 3-0
UVA def UMD 3-2 OT
Towson def VCU 2-1
JMU def UVA 3-0
JMU def Towson 3-2 OT
VCU def UVA 4-1
JMU def UMD 3-0
Towson def UMD 2-1
JMU def VCU 3-0
EAST LANSING – IM West: Finals out of the Michigan Dodgeball Cup:
GVSU def CMU 2-1
SVSU def CMU 3-2 OT
GVSU def MSU 2-0
GVSU def SVSU 4-0
CMU def MSU 2-1
SVSU def MSU 4-1
With so many teams playing this Sunday, we have a shakeup in the top 7… into an apparent top 6. I wouldn’t count anyone out. While it would be big news if GVSU gave up their now 6 game lead, the ratings of the rest of the top 8 are competitive. Plenty of weeks left and a few Nationals games to go before we truly see the shaping of a Championship bracket.
Nine of our 29 active member teams played this Sunday:
| Team | Pre | Post | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| SVSU | 47.267 | 48.708 | 1.441 |
| JMU | 48.016 | 49.161 | 1.145 |
| GVSU | 55.440 | 56.356 | 0.916 |
| Towson | 47.768 | 47.972 | 0.204 |
| UVA | 37.284 | 37.425 | 0.142 |
| CMU | 49.615 | 49.624 | 0.010 |
| UMD | 37.437 | 36.909 | -0.528 |
| VCU | 43.937 | 42.975 | -0.963 |
| MSU | 48.171 | 45.804 | -2.367 |
There were five technical upsets in the day (of 14 games), two at Border War and three at the MDC. All of the three Overtime games on Sunday were technical upsets as well.
CMU def MSU 2-1 (1.024 exchange)
SVSU def MSU 4-1 (1.012)
SVSU def CMU 3-2 OT (0.596)
JMU def Towson 3-2 OT (0.523)
UVA def UMD 3-2 OT (0.508)
The greatest technical upset of the day was SVSU def CMU in Overtime. Saginaw gained a solid chunk of rating off of Central, but had they defeated CMU in regulation we would have seen SV at #2.
The largest rating change across the day was the CMU/MSU technical upset, but still pretty minor compared to the history of technical upsets across the Gonzalez system. All five of these matches can be considered strength adjusting upsets; allowing for upsets like these is crucial to maintaining the balance of the system. An allowable tolerance for the overall system success rate. Continue reading “Standings as of 2016-02-20”
By Kenneth Mize (SVSU)
Every team has a chance to win this tournament for the first time in a long history of MDC’s. Numbers 1-3 and 7th ranked teams will be in attendance. Each team is on a different path that has led them to this tournament. This is a short article describing where these teams are and what they need to do to win.
In case you haven’t paid attention to anything the past few days, the Michigan Dodgeball Cup takes place this Sunday at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. #3 Michigan State will host #1 Grand Valley State, #2 Central Michigan, and #7 Saginaw Valley State in an epic late-winter showdown.
I will be continuing the trend of preview articles for this much anticipated tournament. My article will be filled with predictions for everything from tournament winners, to what each team’s strengths and weaknesses will be on Sunday, to who is most likely to get a red-card. Lots to discuss. Continue reading “MDC Preview: Predictions, Predictions, & more Predictions”
Don’t let the Michigan Dodgeball Cup (MDC) distract you from everything else going on this weekend. Over in Richmond, Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will be hosting the Border War, consisting of teams exclusively from neighbor states Virginia and Maryland.
Why should anyone pay attention?
Well, 3 of the top 10 teams in the country will be present which includes #4 James Madison University (JMU), #5 Towson University (TU), and #9 VCU. The University of Virginia (UVA) and University of Maryland (UMD) both have an opportunity to move up 2-3 spots in terms of seeding with a win. There will also be three JV teams playing which means we will have the opportunity to see the future of the league. Here are some headlines to watch out for this coming weekend.
Continue reading “Border War Could Prove Important for Nationals Seeding”
To say this weekend is big is an understatement. There is no weekend other than Nationals that Michigan teams look forward to more than the Michigan Dodgeball Cup (MDC). Hearts are broken, dreams are made. This is a weekend full of yelling, regrets and obviously, dodging. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. Continue reading “MDC Preview: What Each Team Can Gain and Lose”
The Michigan Dodgeball Cup takes place this Sunday in East Lansing, MI. The MDC is often regarded as one of the most premier tournaments of the year (the most premier tournament in the minds of any player from the mitten). With a slate of previews coming in preparation of Sunday, the first delves into the Michigan match-ups that have taken place already in the 2016-17 season (Spoiler Alert: there were some overtimes).
Continue reading “MDC Preview: Reviewing the Season’s Michigan Match-ups”
Our very first Baller of the Month award for 2017 will go to Penn State University’s Jeff Schwartz. Jeff has been a major influence for their program for a long time, and helped organize the team’s first ever home tournament on January 14th. He is being recognized for his play on the court, as well as for the contributions he has made to his program.
It’s pretty clear to see which college dodgeball teams are strong on the court. We have records and rankings for that. But now we take the time to measure some off the court success. Kevin Bailey and I have taken a look at what we view as the top tweets for the month of January. Below, we have listed our top tweet, and the the rest of the list in no particular order.
*Keep your levels of savagery as high as possible if you want to make the list next month!
