Only Connect - That Was Round One

Only Connect – Review of Round One -

Ok, here’s the results table I’ve drawn up for the first round. Only the heat winners have been included in the table.

Team	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total	% of answers
Archers Admirers	2	6	10	17	35	59
Gamblers	7	5	10	11	33	70
Strategists	5	4	10	12	31	67
Exeter Alumni	4	7	7	5	23	53
Bowlers	4	6	10	3	23	51
Hitchhikers	5	3	2	11	21	64
Neuroscientists	3	5	2	7	17	71
Brasenose Postgrads	1	2	5	7	15	52

The scores for each round are fairly explanatory, as is the total. The last figure is the percentage of all the points scored in the match by the team. So, for example, in a very close match , like the last show where the Bowlers won by a point, this figure will be close to 50%.

Bearing in mind, as we always should, the caveat that there are lies , damn lies and statistics, and that figures can only tell you so much, we can see that there have been some very impressive teams in the first round. Top of the table are the Archers, who had the highest winning total with 35. That’s worth looking at, since their domination % is 59. Which means that their opponents also scored well, and weren’t giving way a large amount of points. So their score of 35 looks even more impressive when you view it in this light.

Also in the 30 plus club are the Gamblers and the Strategists. Both have good domination % figures too, and can be expected to go well in the quarters.

IMHO the important figures to look at are the figures for round 3, the connecting walls, and round 4, the missing vowels. It doesn’t come as a great surprise that my top three teams all had maximums on their walls, and double figures in the Missing Vowels.

So does this mean that teams such as the Neuroscientists and the Brasenose Postgrads have no real chance going into the quarters ? No, of course it doesn’t. The tournament runs on a knock out basis, and everything depends on the draw for the next round. If you have an off day yet still win in the first round, then hit form in the second, then you can end up beating teams who outperformed you in the first round . If this table does do anything, it just gives us an idea of the teams we can expect to go well in the quarters, especially bearing in mind Victoria’s warning that the level of challenge will definitely increase for the next round. Looking forward to it already.