Only Connect - First Round Stats

I can only apologise. I should have done this a fortnight ago. As such, its out of date in as much as half of the quarter final matches have already been played. We’ve seen the Antiquarians beat the Social Networkers, and the Listeners take out the Rowers. Still, Better late than never. At least this might throw a little light on the prospects for the next two matches. Here’s the table showing the quarter finalists’ performances in the first round : -

Team	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total	Points against	Win Margin
Trade Unionists	4	7	7	11	29	9	20
Edwards Family	6	6	5	10	27	15	12
Technologists	4	2	10	11	27	19	8
Antiquarians	6	6	10	5	27	24	3
Social Networkers	5	4	7	10	26	22	4
Analysts	7	2	10	7	26	17	9
Listeners	7	1	10	5	23	19	4
Rowers	3	5	4	4	16	14	2

Now, you might well be struck by something. The match totals are incredibly similar. With the exception of the Rowers, the other seven teams are separated by only 6 points. So relative positions on my unofficial board can only tell you so much. Still, I would like to point out that both quarter finals so far were won by the team that is higher on my leader board. More by my luck than any judgement on my part, I’m sure.

I think that there are a couple of anomalies worth noting. The Trade Unionists and The Edwards Family have been drawn against each other, and there is next to nothing to choose between them on paper. You suspect that whoever has the faster fingers during the last round will win the day.
As for the Technologists v. The Analysts, well, the Technologists are higher on the leader board. This was due to a maximum on the wall, and a stellar performance on the buzzer in the last round. A buzzer finger that fast will always give you the chance. However I can’t ignore the fact that The Analysts are made up of superb quizzers, and with the level of difficulty higher in the quarters than the first round I can’t help thinking that they will still be too strong for the Technos. Time will tell.

Can’t wait.