c4countdown

So we now know the full quarter-final line up for this series!... (with commiserations to Corrina Attwood to be the first ever Octochamp not to qualify for the series finals, finishing as 9th seed)

James Haughton (1) vs David Law (8)
Jamie Wing (2) vs Tom Silverlock (7)
Paul Nixon (3) vs John Osmond (6)
Morgan Sauer (4) vs Andy Evans (5)

What are everyone's thoughts for the knockout finals - who would people like to get through and who do we think will win?

I guess James H is the hot favourite, with a very impressive total score of 958 (one of the highest ever) and clearly an experienced Apterite. Jamie or Paul probably have the best chance of stopping him - it would be very hard to call a winner between those two if they meet in the semi-final (very similar octotals). Otherwise I think it will probably go generally to seeding (although 4 v 5 is hard to call, could go either way). Looking forward to seeing what happens!

What does everyone else think?

I think it's an interesting series, because I would rank some seeds above others (mainly 6-8). John Osmond would have probably been #9 had he kept playing like he did in his first 3 games, but in his next few, put in some performances which could give some of the top seeds a close game. David was good at the letters, but appeared to not know to do split multiplication in his numbers. However, if he practised, then I reckon he could put in a good account of himself play-wise. Tom had a lot of close games in his run (I think 5 or 6 were crucial, which must be a record), but v Jamie, I think he'll struggle, but you never know. Morgan and Andy will be close, but I'd guess at Morgan winning thanks to his strong conundrum skills. I would agree that I think it will go to seeding, but would not rule out Jamie or Paul toppling James. I also think that ability-wise, Paul A should definitely have been there, and maybe even Stephen Mellor based on his numerical ability.

I agree that Paul Anderson was one of the best players this series - his average score would have made him no 4 seed - so he was very unlucky not to make the finals by coming up against the eventual no 2 seed in the heats (and very nearly beating him)! Under the old pre-series 64 system he would have made the quarter-finals (better total score than 4 of the octochamps).

After the past two series I learned not to predict who could be a series champion.

Carl Harrison wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 5:53 pm Under the old pre-series 64 system he would have made the quarter-finals (better total score than 4 of the octochamps).

They actually have not used points over wins since series 37

I'm sure we're all relieved that Chris Evans ensures there is no Bevins number discontinuity.

David Williams wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2019 10:12 am I'm sure we're all relieved that Chris Evans ensures there is no Bevins number discontinuity.

Though Robin Johnson in series 79 and his associated stretch of games did break it.

Is the calculator still online somewhere?

https://greem.co.uk/cgi-bin/bevinsnumber/number.py but it hasn't been updated since 2015. Graeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemeeeeeeeeeeeeeee