By Boyd Hayes | @KernelHayes

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When UK basketball coach John Calipari wanted to help his team relax ahead of a regular-season matchup with Vanderbilt in February, he surprised them with a friendly game of dodgeball.

Just down Avenue of Champions, in Alumni Gym, another team has been playing dodgeball, but there’s nothing friendly about UK Club Dodgeball.

Practicing twice a week and cruising to a 16-1 record, the Cats have earned the chance to host the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association championship tournament.

This is not UK’s first appearance in the tournament. The Cats made the Elite Eight in 2011 and made a surprise run in the championship last season at Saginaw Valley State.

“Last year we didn’t have really high expectations. We just kind of got there,” senior assistant captain Dakota Taylor said. “I think that fueled us to want more. It validated that we’re a legit team and we can compete.”

“It was a surprise run. It was fantastic. We went in just looking to compete in nationals and give a good showing. In doing so, we ended up showing a little bit more talent than anticipated,” senior captain Zac Brown added.

With some new talent on the team, Brown believes UK’s success this season shows that the Cats have what it takes to go the distance.

“I think it’s about experience. About 10 to 12 of our guys have played for four years,” Brown said. “And besides the success with experience, we’ve got a lot of new talent. We have four or five first-year players who are just phenomenal, and we’re like, ‘Where have you been for the last few years?’ The team we have right now, we have a great mixture of experience and first-year talent.”

“We have about 16 or 17 guys returning, and that’s pretty good, considering there’s only 15 people allowed to play at a time. We have a really, really good core group of guys,” Taylor said.

Of those 15 expected starters this weekend, seniors Jacob Hughes and Wes Hopkins are expected to have an impact. Hopkins’ fastest throw has been clocked at 83 miles per hour, giving him the fastest speed in the nation.

Taylor adds that he expects nothing short of a championship victory.

“We’ve been ranked No. 1, No. 2 all year long, so we’re looking to win the whole thing come Sunday,” Taylor said.

Standing between UK and Sunday’s competition are Penn State, Michigan State and Bowling Green State in preliminary rounds, starting with a matchup with the Nittany Lions on Friday.

According to Taylor, however, the teams from Michigan are the most dangerous in the tournament.

“The Michigan schools are always tough. For the people that want to come, if you see a Michigan school on the schedule, watch that game. You know it’s going to be a good game,” Taylor said. “But the two teams I’m worried about are Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State, both out of Michigan.”

Despite the strength of the Cats, Grand Valley State and Saginaw State, it is the Golden Eagles of Kent State (21-7) who currently sit atop the NCDA standings.

Though the Cats have a higher win percentage (.9412) than Kent State, the Golden Eagles (.7500) have accrued more points through the duration of the season.

“The teams don’t play an even amount of games (during the regular season), so we try to make that fair by doing a certain percentage of your season record combined with a certain percentage of your wins during the pool play at nationals. That’ll give you your seeding for Sunday,” Taylor said.

In a tournament that seems to favor the home team, Saginaw Valley State, Grand Valley State and Ohio State have all won as hosts. The Cats will try to continue that trend.

To encourage attendance, Brown said the first 100 fans to attend the championship tournament wearing UK blue will receive free T-shirts.

After playing Penn State at 9:15 p.m. Friday, the Cats take on Michigan State at 10 a.m. Saturday and Bowling Green State at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, before the championship round Sunday, should they advance.