|
Post by WKU-Perrone-76 on Feb 12, 2012 1:57:01 GMT -6
Wow, this sounds like an incredible tournament
|
|
cg
Full Member
Posts: 194
|
Post by cg on Feb 12, 2012 10:46:46 GMT -6
Looked like a very good tournament to participate in. As a spectator, there were some a number of exciting moments - Hawkins v MSU a couple of times, Bettrager hanging on vs GVSU, fireworks during many opening rushes (I'm amazed no one's shying away from the balls at midcourt) - but there was a lot of time where you just sat there waiting for something to happen, not a lot of urgency. Whether that's the teams involved, the scoring system, etc, is beyond me.
Quick recaps from up in the booth:
Central Michigan - May not have played much, but there's been no dropoff from last year. Power players still strong, and the non-namestays have improved. A tough out for anybody in April.
Grand Valley State - GVSU's the fastest team in the NCDA, but I don't know that they have the same advantage they have enjoyed in previous years. Whether that's a dropoff by the Lakers or other teams improving is up for discussion. Teamwork still remains strong - there was a picture perfect exchange with #72 Alex Acton for Michigan State in a 2 v 1 situation. Both Lakers throw on target, Acton slides on his back and gets his hands on the first ball to arrive, but the second ball dislodges it and puts the game out of reach. That kind of accuracy is huge.
Michigan State - If you've seen one State game, you've seen most every State game. A bunch of talent, but miscommunication and lack of communication continues to plague them in late-game situations. There were a couple of times where they could've tied things up with Central, but the Spartans looked almost confused as to who should grab the loose ball and hit the lone CMU player, and by the time someone took charge the Chip had retreated to the back line. This kind of stuff's happened the past 8 seasons, so it's anyone's guess how to fix it.
Saginaw Valley State - I don't think it's a stretch to say I've had a beef or two with select Saginaw players over the years, so keep that in mind when I say I could not be more impressed with SVSU's performance this weekend. Peplinski is a tough out due to his stature and his court awareness, with at least one midair back-handed block to save a teammate. Most of the other players remained true to form. The key to this year's group, though, is #77 Spencer Jardine. Without question Jardine has improved the Cardinals' team chemistry by leaps and bounds, and he is the most dangerous guy they've got bar none. I'd have to review the tape (State got a pair of games in HD) to get concrete numbers, but I would estimate he was single-handedly responsible for about a quarter of the Cardinals' production yesterday. This, combined with their home court advantage (which unlike most NCDA schools actually means something, as teams will find out) and their new facility, makes for a great storyline and puts them as the odds-on favorite to win it all as they host the National Tournament in April.
|
|
|
Post by ihateboomis on Feb 12, 2012 11:30:29 GMT -6
Recap from my point of view:
Actually similar to Bomis (which is ridiculously rare haha) in many ways but a few different points.
CMU- Right on target. Dominant players make their role players tremendously better and control the control. Dodgeball knowledge is their key. So many times you think that you might have the advantage and they come back with two or three catches in a row. Bryce Corrion had about 3 or 4 ridiculous catches vs us in one point. I never look forward to this playing this team and I really don't think anyone does. Which is probably why they have played in very few games this year haha.
GVSU - The pace of the game seems to have changed over the years and every team is adapting in different ways. This creating a more equal field, in my opinion. They are easily the best team in big time moments though. When they need a play, they almost always make it. I have only seen them not make the big play a few times during my entire dodgeball career. One of those being yesterday when Josh was able to stay in and run out the clock. They have quite a few play makers. # 7 and their captain (I guarantee I wouldn't spell his name right, so I will say their captain haha) are always making great plays.
MSU - Right on point with them as well. Couldn't have said it better.
SVSU - Although Spencer is a huge part of our team. I believe that this is one of the best TEAM's that we have ever put on a court. It doesn't do us justice to give him all the credit. I played maybe two good points yesterday and I don't think I deserve any credit at all. The credit goes to every single player on the court and off the court( including the players who come out working every practice to make us better and get better.We have a number of people who have yet to start this year that consistently come out and improve, while making us better at the same time.) . There is someone different stepping up in each point for us this year. From our veteran leaders Bryan, Jordan, Josh, Spencer, Ryan..etc to people who are 1st and second year players including these names and other; Kyle foster, Mike Soulierre, Torre, Zach Phelp, Grayson and Andy Miller.
An example of this is right before half vs. GVSU. They had us down in numbers and making all the smart plays and throws were Grayson and Mike. It has been a total team effort this year.
|
|
|
Post by hiller 87 on Feb 12, 2012 11:42:30 GMT -6
Game by game recap:
MSU vs CMU- Chips got out to 1-0 lead in a close game, and then the Spartans stormed back and almost took a point, but we screwed up majorly (and Pat Fisher used some good strategy) as we had a balls over 10 on 1 with 30 seconds left and couldn't get out Hawkins from CMU in that time. CMU then took the next point (again, a close one) and then MSU took the point after that in another close one. Then CMU held out for a couple of minutes and came out victorious. This was a game that could have gone either way, but CMU's experience in winning close games helped and our lack of being able to close out points was what killed us.
SVSU vs GVSU- this game was pretty good, but there were tons of stoppages in play as you'd expect from the fiercest rivalry in the game. It went to OT, and GVSU was up in overtime for a bit but SVSU had some catches and a couple major hits and won in overtime with a pretty significant player advantage. Definitely a great game, but it would have been better if there wasn't so much stoppage in play.
MSU vs GVSU- the final score was 5-0, but once again the first 3 or so points were extremely close. MSU had a slight advantage in the ends of the first and third points, but we couldn't seal the deal. The last couple of points were pretty clearly GVSU's points, but the score of this game could have easily been 3-2 either way.
SVSU vs CMU- this game was surprisingly easy to referee. There were no real conflicts which was really refreshing. CMU jumped to an early lead, but Spencer must have had the best halftime speech ever because they went from being completely flat to playing the best dodgeball I've seen SVSU ever play in my 4 years in the league. It was crazy to see the differences between the two halves.
MSU vs SVSU- SVSU had already clinched the championship, and MSU had already clinched last place, but both teams wanted the last win. SVSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second half, but MSU scored two points in the last 15 minutes (including one at the buzzer) to only lose by one.
CMU vs GVSU- I'll admit, and I think the GVSU and CMU players will admit, that the game was only meaningful for a handful of players as some of the players on both squads kind of joked around. That said, it was a pretty fun match to watch and CMU vs GVSU is always a fantastic game, whether or not people are actually trying.
All in all I thought it was a great tournament with some fantastic games, and even though my team went 0-3 it was still a fun time. Thank you to everyone who came!
|
|
|
Post by ihateboomis on Feb 12, 2012 12:23:35 GMT -6
One of the biggest changes in this years MDC was lack of stoppage for cheating. I don't know what is different, but there were a select few times, maybe even none, when the clock was stopped to call someone out for cheating. When a player was called out, I rarely saw them argue. They might not have been happy or thought they got hit, but still went out without having to stop the game.
The majority of stoppage in the GVSU v SVSU game was because of shot clock violations and counting. Which understandably is the hardest part of the game and I believe something needs to be done about it. I don't have to solution, but we should open it up for discussion.
|
|
|
Post by Dylan Fettig on Feb 13, 2012 0:47:16 GMT -6
The recaps of the games were spot on and I want to thank MSU for putting on a great tournament. I also think Mccarthy needs some love too for doing a great job at reffing all of the games and keeping his cool even when there were hard calls to make. He even pulled a yellow card out, which was surprisingly the first time I've seen that happen in the three years I've been playing!
|
|
|
Post by KFitz on Feb 13, 2012 1:11:06 GMT -6
Any estimate for when those games that were video taped will be up?
|
|
cg
Full Member
Posts: 194
|
Post by cg on Feb 13, 2012 8:38:24 GMT -6
The recaps of the games were spot on and I want to thank MSU for putting on a great tournament. I also think Mccarthy needs some love too for doing a great job at reffing all of the games and keeping his cool even when there were hard calls to make. He even pulled a yellow card out, which was surprisingly the first time I've seen that happen in the three years I've been playing! Also the first time I've seen both teams applaud a card. As for video, no idea. MSU Telecom is in charge of this stuff, and Sam Hiller would know more about the details than I.
|
|
|
Post by hiller 87 on Feb 13, 2012 12:13:46 GMT -6
Yeah the player who was carded definitely deserved a yellow card, so I'm glad Mike was able to go ahead and do so. Mike, Jimmy Stokes, Greg Trippiedi, and all those who volunteered to ref did a great job.
The video will be up whenever I get it, and then whenever I get it to someone who actually knows what they're doing to upload to the internet. I emailed the people in charge yesterday and have not heard back, so I honestly have no clue when we'll get it, but we'll get it.
|
|
|
Post by trippiedigv12 on Feb 14, 2012 0:22:04 GMT -6
The big story of the 2012 MDC was the inability of anyone (except Michigan State in a 3-1 game) to close out SVSU. When was the last time the MDC winner scored a grand total of seven times? Heck, when was the last time that SVSU scored just seven times at any Michigan Dodgeball Cup?
SVSU has to be the pre-nationals favorite at this point. It's not a big gap: there's an argument to be made that both GVSU and CMU flashed greater potential on Saturday, but when you combine the fact that no one can score on SVSU right now with the fact that they'll play every meaningful game at home the rest of the season and have the inside track to #1 seed in Michigan (after being the #4 a year ago), that's a team that will be the favorite to take the Nationals trophy (or whatever the heck we're calling it).
|
|
|
Post by peters27 on Feb 14, 2012 16:57:03 GMT -6
The big story of the 2012 MDC was the inability of anyone (except Michigan State in a 3-1 game) to close out SVSU. When was the last time the MDC winner scored a grand total of seven times? Heck, when was the last time that SVSU scored just seven times at any Michigan Dodgeball Cup? SVSU has to be the pre-nationals favorite at this point. It's not a big gap: there's an argument to be made that both GVSU and CMU flashed greater potential on Saturday, but when you combine the fact that no one can score on SVSU right now with the fact that they'll play every meaningful game at home the rest of the season and have the inside track to #1 seed in Michigan (after being the #4 a year ago), that's a team that will be the favorite to take the Nationals trophy (or whatever the heck we're calling it). The Mike McCarthy Memorial Trophy trollololol
|
|
|
Post by ihateboomis on Feb 14, 2012 19:27:19 GMT -6
^^^ No thanks. haha
|
|
|
Post by mccarthy55cmu on Feb 14, 2012 20:06:00 GMT -6
Always making a dumbass comment... what else is new.
|
|
|
Post by Spencer Jardine - SVSU on Feb 17, 2012 10:26:41 GMT -6
The big story of the 2012 MDC was the inability of anyone (except Michigan State in a 3-1 game) to close out SVSU. When was the last time the MDC winner scored a grand total of seven times? Heck, when was the last time that SVSU scored just seven times at any Michigan Dodgeball Cup? SVSU has to be the pre-nationals favorite at this point. It's not a big gap: there's an argument to be made that both GVSU and CMU flashed greater potential on Saturday, but when you combine the fact that no one can score on SVSU right now with the fact that they'll play every meaningful game at home the rest of the season and have the inside track to #1 seed in Michigan (after being the #4 a year ago), that's a team that will be the favorite to take the Nationals trophy (or whatever the heck we're calling it). The Mike McCarthy Memorial Trophy trollololol lmao yessssssss!
|
|
|
Post by mccarthy55cmu on Feb 21, 2012 0:23:10 GMT -6
Thank you God #2. hahaha
|
|