OK, time to end my coverage of UC on this blog for another series with my usual end of series retrospective. After a rather slow first round, this series improved in the second round and quarter-finals and, for all its faults, remained enjoyable throughout, ending with a good final and worthy winners.
So, we start as usual with my picks for the best matches of every round:
- First Round + Play-Offs: Easily the U.C.L.-St John's play-off; their match with Imperial and Edinburgh and Birmingham's big wins were also highlights.
- Second Round: Easy, Edinburgh vs Bristol.
- Quarter-Finals: Plenty of good games here; Edinburgh winning on the final question of the game just about takes it.
- The Final Three: The final, then the second semi, then the first.
Some great matches, but not very many high scoring matches. Unlike some recent series, though, there were quite a lot of 'close' matches, though quite a lot tended to be rather low scoring. There were only seven games where the teams broke 300 between them, though all but two did see both teams get into three figures TBF.
Edinburgh's 270 in the first round was easily the highest score of the series; the second highest was 245 achieved by Birmingham in the first round and Reading in the second, while Trinity and Imperial's 235 in their second round and first QF matches respectively was the third highest. Poor Sussex had the lowest score of the series with just 10, while Queen Mary and St Hilda's also joined the Sub-50 Club in the second round with 45 each. Imperial's first round match against St John's provided the biggest aggregate score of the series, 365.
Only nine Oxbridge teams, four Oxford five Cambridge, competed in this series, the fewest in a long time, and, for the first time since the 2005-06 series, the Oxford teams were wiped out before the QFs. Three Cambridge teams reached the QFs, but, for the first time since the 2012-13 series, there was no Oxbridge team in the final, suggesting that, after five successive Oxbridge finals in a row a few years back, their stranglehold on the series seems to have loosened again for now. London had five teams, as did Scotland, and, for the third series running, Wales and Northern Ireland were unrepresented.
Now, at this point in years gone by, I'd be listing 'highlight's at this point as in 'entertaining' moments. However, this feature, a bit like my blog about buzzer stats, has become a bit redundant in this age where the show is discussed endlessly on Twitter, meaning these moments become remembered a lot better. If you want a reminder of some of the 'entertaining' highlights of this series, fellow blogger Ariadne has done an excellent thread on Twitter which I'll provide a retweet of in my feed.
So, instead, I'll talk a bit more about the series itself.
Yes, it wasn't the best series I've covered on here. Yes, a lot of the matches, the first round in particular, were rather low scoring. Is that forgivable? Yes, especially given the circumstances this series was made under. As Paxo said in his intro to the final, filming was the first time many teams, including runners-up Reading, had actually met in person. Hopefully, for the next series, which I guess has already been filmed, more of the teams will have been able to meet and practice together in person beforehand.
But it must be said, in spite of that, we still saw some most impressive performances from both teams and individuals throughout the series, which is a testament to those in question. As Paxo said, everyone who took part in and was involved in the production of this series should be given extra special credit for getting involed in the circumstances.
Which brings us on to the man himself. Paxo has done very well to continue in his role in spite of his now well-documented illness and, as Dave C. said on LAM a few months back, deserves a lot of credit and respect for doing so and wanting to do so. That said, it has sadly highlighted the fact that he won't be able to continue on the show forever, and some thought must now be given to who will succeed him when the time finally comes for him to stand aside.
Mastermind made an excellent choice in appointing Clive Myrie and he's settled so well and naturally into the role it's hard to remember a time when someone else was doing it. We can only hope that, when Paxo does step down as UC chair, TPTB can make a similarly inspired choice to replace him.
So, that's it for another series. All that's left to do is, once again, thank Paxo, Roger Tilling, all the crew and all the teams who took part in this series, especially considering the circumstances under which it was made; it was still an enjoyable series of UC, and thanks very much to all for taking part in and helping give it to us!
My blogging for the season concludes on Monday with a quick review of the Mastermind final; see you then then...
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