OK, so here we go with looking back on the series. I'll be posting a more thorough run-through of the series later this week (tomorrow or Thursday), but lets start now with the best individual players for each team. They are:
Jonathan Collings (Manchester) - 36 over six matches
Filip 'opaltiger' Drnovšek Zorko (Trinity) - 29 over six matches
Peter McKean (SOAS) - 27 over six matches
Zac Vermeer and Chris Beer (Somerville) - 23 each over six matches
Matt Loxham (Southampton) - 20 over six matches
Mark Chonofsky (Clare) - 16 over four matches
Tom Parry-Jones (Cardiff) - 16 over four matches
Joseph Greenwood (Queen's) - 16 over five matches
Those are the best players for each team. A few more notable tallies of mention:
Ralph Morley (Trinity) - 27 over six matches
Bob De Caux (Southampton) - 18 over six matches
Richard Freeland (Trinity) - 18 over six matches
Richards 'Cromarty(IV)' Evans (Southampton) - 17 over six matches
Joe Day (Manchester) - 16 over six matches
Tom Wright (Clare) - 15 over four matches
OK, that's a quick runthrough of some of the higher starter tallies of the series. If anyone wants the complete list, just let me know.
I'll carry on with a look back at some of the highlights of the series tomorrow or Thursday.
Interesting that comparatively the buzzer rates seem similar to last year's... I suppose the higher scores this season came from heavier bonus conversion then.
ReplyDeleteSent you an email.
Sorry for the relatively late post - but I've been away for the last week with very little internet access.
ReplyDeleteThis certainly makes for interesting reading. If I remember correctly, this makes the second consecutive year in which the series' best buzzer was not a finalist. But then again, it also turns out that while Manchester takes position 1 in the individual buzzing league, our winning team takes positions 2 and 3 – while our second-placed team only takes position 5 (twice). Manchester, Trinity and Somerville all had moments of fantastic strength in bonus conversion, but each of them had at least one game when they were lacking the smoke, so these starter stats certainly don’t lie!
I’d be interested to see how everyone fares for “average starters per match” (I think you’ve still got my email address – please could you send me the complete list?). The winners on that list, intriguingly, are probably Katherine Monks (Liverpool) and Edmund Zimmer (Peterhouse), who both perished in round 2 with 13 starters to each of their names, closely followed by Mr Collings and Ewan MacAulay (Christ Church – 17 starters from 3 games). I think it’s fair to say that those three teams had Guttenplan-esque leading players, but the same can’t really be said of any of the last eight teams, except perhaps Manchester (and arguably SOAS).
And if I’m being extremely picky, I technically answered 18 starters correctly over our matches – my elusive eighteenth being the “South Sudan” moment in round 2!
Collings' performance on the buzzer was certainly remarkable. 6 average per match is impressive under any circumstances.What I've found interesting is that in fact that starter rates across this servies and the last have been broadly similar. A collated list runs:
ReplyDelete1. Collings (2013) 36/6
2. Capplemann (2012) 30/5
3. Tomlinson (2012) 30/6
4. Drnovsek Zorko (2013) 29/6
5. Dennis (2012) 28/6 (11 in the first match alone)
6= McKean (2013) 27/6
6= Morley (2013) 27/6
8. Gratrex (2012) 25/6
9. Gilbert (2012) 25/7
10= Vermeer/ Beer (2013) 23/6
The rest is pretty similar, but amounts to the observation that the best buzzers across the two series are farily evenly-matched. What has made this season look so brilliant is surely that the top players are not scattered across teams but concentrated: Two each on the teams in the finals, and able support from Freeland in Trinity. And three fine buzzers on Southampton's team all firing at once in their high-scoring demolition jobs in the second round and first Quarter-final. By contrast, the top players from last season were often distrubuted as one per team. Bangor had Tomlinson, but no-one else really did more than two starters per match. UCL had Dennis, but none of the other players stood out really. Pembroke's captain was a fine buzzer but he had little support... and so on.
There's nothing quite so exciting as seeing two teams with five or more standout players all battling on each starter. And in several matches this season we saw exactly that, in the battles between Collings and Trinity's lead trio, or McKean v Vermeer and Beer, and so on... wonderful entertainment. Last season there was some entertaining tussles between a couple of players, one from each side, but it was less spectacular.
The main difference in scores was on the bonuses, though... I wonder why that is, but a 50% score on bonuses was good last season, and this year teams were often making 60%+ and that was a difference of 30-odd points extra per side, which affects how the scores look hugely.
Just some thoughts. I'm probably doing the 2012-13 season too much injustice, and maybe after all the questions were a shade more tricky. There's something odd when teams struggle to reach 200 in one season, but the next season even losing teams manage to get past that milestone.