Not many surprises here. Well, maybe one – the fact that the final round was very quiet considering everybody should have been scrambling to play as many matches as possible before the deadline. The standings only had one change over the final week which was “Vivio’s” swapping places with “1st Place Lounge” to take the 3rd spot - which wasn’t unexpected since “1st Place Lounge” had the last round bye.
The one team that will be kicking themselves is the “O’Blivions” who missed out on the final play-off position by one point. Tracking the scores over the last couple of days, they actually held 6th spot up until the final moments before the cutoff, but a late score entered by “The Tap Bar” burst that bubble.
“Town Pump” and “Old Shillelagh” secure the first round bye in the finals, something they really did a few rounds ago as all they did from week to week was to increase their lead. Play over the second half of the Boasters League season felt down from previous seasons, even though overall court usage is well up; statistics support that observation…
- Only 62% of the matches were played compared to 71% in the first half. A significant decrease.
- Rounds 1, 2 and 5 had the most matches played with 73%.
- The lowest completion percentages were rounds 7, 8 and 9. Round 9 was only 40%.
- “Town Pump” and “1st Place Lounge” had the highest playing percentage with 72% of matches completed. “Old Shillelagh” had 71%. All three teams were in the top 4 of the standings.
- Hardly shocking, but the top 3 teams on the standings received the most bonus points. “Town Pump” had the most with 62.
- “Jacoby’s” played only 44% of their matches. They finished last by a long way. No one should be astounded to hear that they also had the lowest bonus point total with just 32. That’s an average of 4 people (out of maximum 12) per week.
- Every team had at least one player who played all 8 of their matches. “1st Place Lounge” had four. Overall there were 17 – none of them went through undefeated.
- Only 6 players picked up all 8 bonus points. They were all members of one of the top four teams.
- No one played all 12 matches in any round.
- The 187 points scored by “Town Pump” is the most ever in a Boasters League half season.
- The most points any team picked up in one round was 31 by “Old Shillelagh”.
- The most points “Jacoby’s” picked in any round was 13.
- 67% of “Jacoby’s” score was made up by 4 of their players.
On top of the best team overall, there is also the individual prize of the “All Star” team. This is calculated from the highest point getters from each level – including bonus points – for the all round consistent performer. Each player listed will receive an special “All Star” shirt. Here are your stand-outs:
- George Kordas - “Vivio’s”
- Paul Ward – “Anchor”
- Patrick Petz – “Town Pump”
- Kevin Kennedy – “1st Place Lounge”
- Andy Housey – “O’Blivions”
- Sante Fratarcangeli – “O’Blivion’s”
- Chuck Doyle – “Vivio’s”
- Ted Mabley – “The Tap Bar”
- Jason Massey – “Town Pump”
- Dane Fossee – “Old Shillelagh” – Lead the league with 50 points
- Tom Delaney – “Vivio’s”
- Jim Miller “The Tap Bar”
Nice to see three captains in that list – leading by example! Also nice to see 7 of the 9 teams represented – no prize guessing which two teams are missing…
So now we get into the business end of the season. Head-to-head, winner advances, loser gets eliminated. Will Patrick Petz and his team once again be the one left standing for a third title in four years? I am sure most players will be able to find time (now) to play their match over the week since it is the finals… If only they found tine to play their weekly matches over the first 9 weeks…