Jonathan Shaw’s “Nationals Winners and Losers”

Winners:

Nick Johnson ran a very successful NCDA National s.
Nick Johnson ran a very successful Nationals.

Nick Johnson WKU – Simply put, he ran the smoothest Nationals I’ve seen since Towson joined the NCDA in 2011. Nick, all of the NCDA owes you a big thanks, well done buddy.

Central Michigan University – Central players might still be getting over the Finals loss to GVSU, but when you look back at the fact that exactly 2 years before Central had only brought 10 players to Nationals, and 1 year before got eliminated by University of Kentucky in the first round, you must come to the realization that a Finals appearance is a monumental step in the right direction for this program. Continue reading “Jonathan Shaw’s “Nationals Winners and Losers””

Which Region is the Best in the NCDA?

Written by BGSU’s Adam Hynes

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Even with the NCDA not having conferences or anything we still have each team placed into a category according to where the teams are located; this obviously being the regions.  In no particular order we have the Ohio, East Coast, Illinois, Michigan, and Kentucky regions.  These regions have their top teams, middle teams and low tier teams as any other league with conferences would have.  With there being so much talent spread throughout the league and schools being spread apart it can be very difficult to say who the top region truly is.  With Nationals coming this week, and the exciting pool play games on Saturday, it will be a good indication of who the true top region is.  In this article I wanted to say what each region must do in order to stack up against every one and say that their region is the true top dog. Continue reading “Which Region is the Best in the NCDA?”

Nationals 2015 Schedule

Original Google Sheet

SATURDAY

8:00 AM Doors Open Preston Center
8:00 AM Teams Check-In Front Lobby
8:45 AM Officials Meeting Meeting Room
8:45 AM Teams Cued for Pics Court 4
9:00 AM League Picture Court 4
9:15 AM ASG Pictures/Intro Court 4
9:30 AM All Star Game Begins Court 4
10:00 AM 1st Round of Games
Court 2 PSU vs DePaul
Court 3 UK vs VCU
Court 4 UMD vs OSU
Court 6 GVSU vs UWP
11:15 AM 2nd Round of Games
Court 2 CMU vs Kent
Court 3 JMU vs BGSU
Court 4 SVSU vs WKU
Court 6 MSU vs TU
1:00 PM 3rd Round of Games
Court 2 OSU vs DePaul
Court 3 UWP vs PSU
Court 4 Lunch Break
Court 6 Lunch Break
1:40 PM 4th Round of Games
Court 2 Lunch Break
Court 3 Lunch Break
Court 4 WKU vs VCU
Court 6 GVSU vs UK
3:00 PM 5th Round of Games
Court 2 TU vs BGSU
Court 3 JMU vs SVSU
Court 4 CMU vs UMD
Court 6 MSU vs Kent
4:45 PM 6th Round of Games
Court 2 GVSU vs PSU
Court 3 UWP vs BGSU
Court 4 JMU vs OSU
Court 6 WKU vs DePaul
6:00 PM 7th Round of Games
Court 2 CMU vs VCU
Court 3 SVSU vs TU
Court 4 MSU vs UK
Court 6 UMD vs Kent
7:30 PM Captains’ Meeting Meeting Room
8:30 PM End Meeting Meeting Room
8:45 PM Exec Board Meets Meeting Room
9:15 PM Leave Gym Preston Center

Continue reading “Nationals 2015 Schedule”

BOTM: 2015 March

11130689_10205595605624561_577289346_nThe Baller of the Month for March goes to one of Central Michigan’s captains: Brett Hadwin.  Brett is competing in his final season with CMU, and he has had a stellar final year.  Brett most recently led Central to a tournament title at the CMU Showdown with wins over MSU, SVSU, JMU, and GVSU.

Brett is without a doubt one of the best all-around players in the NCDA, and he has proven it time and time again throughout his career.  It is a shock to me that he had never received the honor of BOTM until now.

I had the opportunity to interview Brett after he was chosen as the Baller of the Month, and as always, he had some interesting things to say.  Here is my conversation with Brett where we talk about his goals for his team, his individual skill set, best dodgeball memories, and even his trademark headbands: Continue reading “BOTM: 2015 March”

Nationals 2015 In-Depth Preview

10891568_10153061471740972_7448666028323906080_nNCDA Nationals is always an eventful weekend, but this year in particular, the league’s season-ending tournament seems destined to be an exciting one.  There is so much to talk about when previewing what will be another great NCDA tournament.  Below is my “In-Depth” preview of Nationals which takes place April 11-12 in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  This preview will include a brief summary of the storylines to follow, round-by-round game previews (with a prediction for each individual match!), and lastly, I will have my predictions on the results of the final day’s bracket.

Continue reading “Nationals 2015 In-Depth Preview”

Letter to the Officials and Staff

Good people,

Thank you for registering! Nationals 2015 is hosted by Western Kentucky University and WKU Dodgeball. It will be fun. The Staff and Alumni are an integral part of the success of this organization. We thank you in advance for this service.

Continue reading “Letter to the Officials and Staff”

CMU Showdown Recap

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This past Saturday Central Michigan University hosted perhaps the greatest regular season tournament in the history of the NCDA. It certainly was the best regular season collection of talent that I have been involved in since joining the league. Joining the Chippewas at the CMU Showdown were GVSU, JMU, SVSU, and MSU. The Dukes of James Madison made the trip from Virginia all the way to Mount Pleasant to take on the Michigan Schools that had all just played a month prior in the MDC.

The hosts of Central Michigan put on a dominant performance and left with a perfect 4-0 record. In doing so, they halted Grand Valley’s attempt to break the all-time consecutive win streak that ended at 41 games. The Lakers finished the day 3-1, with the loss to CMU coming as their first of the season. The long trip for JMU resulted in a 2-2 record. MSU improved on their poor performance at the MDC to finish with one win, one loss, and two overtime losses. SVSU was unable to come away with a win on Saturday, finishing 0-4.

Continue reading “CMU Showdown Recap”

March 22nd Executive Board/Nationals Meeting Minutes

NCDA Executive Board Members in attendance: Zigmas Maloni, Felix Perrone, Nick Johnson

Notes on the Meeting:

  • Went over the Nationals Budget.
    • Added a few items we missed, updated the list of entry fees which included extra shirts and pizza ordered from JMU.
    • Addressed the Officiating payments.
    • Generally, pay will start at Minimum Wage (about 7.25 / game) with Head Referee getting more pay for each game.
  • Went over some of the Alumni and Ladies registrations.
  • Discussed potential income from business for sponsors.
  • Some discussion had in the current state of the four ranking systems, and the seeding needs for the Sunday Tournament bracket with 15 teams.
    • Standard 16 team bracket with 1 seed getting a bye.
  • Set a hard deadline for a Nationals Saturday scheduled pool release on April 9th.
    • May try to be earlier, depends on schedule.

Meeting Duration: 1:45

CMU Showdown Preview

This Saturday will involve one of the biggest regular season tournaments in recent memory.  Central Michigan University will host a 5-team tournament entitled the “CMU Showdown”.

In attendance at this event will be five of the top ten teams in the league, including the top four in the current NCDA standings.  While this tournament will be overshadowed by Nationals less than a month later, there still is quite a bit on the line this Saturday in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.  Here is an overview of each attending team’s situation heading into this weekend’s tournament: Continue reading “CMU Showdown Preview”