31st Tournament of Champions: Quarter-Final Preview

6 Comments on "31st Tournament of Champions: Quarter-Final Preview"

1. Diganta Das | February 23, 2024 at 12:18 pm |

   I will be so torn on Feb 29 – two local guys – – both very personable and one of them with a connection to my workplace AND Dr. Zaheer.

2. AD | February 23, 2024 at 3:29 pm |

   Quarterfinal Predictions:
   Game 1 – Emily Sands
   Game 2 – Cris Pannullo
   Game 3 – Yungsheng Wang
   Game 4 – Yogesh Raut
   Game 5 – Juveria Zaheer
   Game 6 – Josh Saak
   Game 7 – Ike Barinholtz
   Game 8 – Ben Chan
   Game 9 – Troy Meyer

3. MasterDoge | February 24, 2024 at 8:09 pm |

   I am way too lazy when it comes to these; once again, I’m posting them a day late, and I have to omit my first prediction. (Thankfully, it was correct.) Anyway…

   Match 2: Cris. He’s the top seed for a reason, and I think this is a perfect matchup for him in the quarterfinals. Jared, though, is strong enough that I can’t quite count him out, and I think it’s very possible for him to prevent a Cris runaway going into Final. As funny as a Ben G. victory would be, I don’t think it’ll happen.

   Match 3: Hannah. All three of these players were some of my favorite players throughout the past year and a half (ish), but Hannah is very strong in pretty much every metric, and I do think she’s got the best chances here. Judging by what you told me earlier, though, I can’t count David out… and as I said in the Hearts semifinals post, Yungsheng just seems to always find ways to win!

   Match 4: Yogesh. Okay, this is a case where I really have to put my bias aside for a minute and just focus on numbers. I’m still very annoyed with all of the drama that happened during and after Yogesh’s run, but predicting his loss in the quarterfinals with the matchup he was given would just be lying to myself. (I’m just glad I’ll be on a plane and without WiFi when the game airs for most of everybody.)

   Match 5: Juveria. Once again, while these three are three of my favorite players from all of S39, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Juveria pull away with this one. She’s almost unflappable and doesn’t really seem to suffer with stamina, which I think hurt Luigi greatly in his original run. Regardless though, this is almost certainly gonna be a 2-player battle. If Kevin had enough money to have even a chance at winning going into Final, I’m counting that as a victory.

   Match 6: Brian. I flip-flopped a ton between him and Josh, especially because Josh’s only career loss so far has been to Matt Amodio. But as you mentioned in one of your Mailbag articles, buzzer skill is one of the most important aspects of a great player – and given how he’s the only one of the roster to have an average “buzz in first” % north of 50%, Brian has demonstrated that skill in spades. I’d even peg him as a potential favorite in the finals if he had a better time with the wagering clues!

   Match 7: Ray. Near-perfect record in Final Jeopardy aside, if Ray can find a groove with the buzzer, he’s going to absolutely dominate this entire match. And even if he can’t really find a groove with the buzzer, his strength on the more difficult material should serve him very well here. I think Ike is going to absolutely do better than most people believe, but for him to actually come out on top might require a bit of luck.

   Match 8: Ben C. Yeah, I think this one is pretty obvious. I will say, though, that Justin and Emmett are both extremely capable players and I wouldn’t be surprised if one (or both) of them was able to keep Ben C. from a runaway.

   Match 9: Troy. This will ultimately depend on which Troy shows up, I think. If Troy shows up to the studio on a good day, he’s gonna have the game locked up by the halfway point of Double Jeopardy. If not, though… it’s anybody’s game!

   Still kinda weird to think about how we’re actually in the ToC now, but as always, I can’t wait to see how it plays out!

   • Jeff | February 25, 2024 at 2:56 pm |

     Nice analysis MasterDoge. Now I’ll throw mine in. 🙂 Safe travels this coming Wednesday, during Quarterfinal #4.

4. Jeff | February 25, 2024 at 3:39 pm |

   Well, the ToC started on Friday and I can’t wait for it to continue tomorrow. 🙂

   My prediction for Quarterfinal #1 was Matthew Marcus, but I did say that Emily had a chance because of her extreme buzzer skills. I should have given those buzzer and DD skills more deference. I posted my prediction in the comments after Thursday’s game.

   On to Quarterfinals #2 to #9 and who I will be predicting to win each.

   Quarterfinal #2 – Cris Pannullo – He’s clearly the class of this match and probably this whole Tournament of Champions, but this why we play the games. Ben said bring on Cris and amazingly he drew him. Cris had 17 runaways in his 21 wins, but will get a runaway here?

   Quarterfinal #3 – Yungsheng Wang – I think this will be a very competitive match, but I am taking Yungsheng due to his willingness to bet it all when it’s crunchtime. Though this does require him to find the DD’s. Hannah is an extremely strong 8 day champion and David Sibley is clearly very good as well, as his 4 game winning streak was ended by Cris Pannullo.

   Quarterfinal #4 – Yogesh Raut – He’s the one with best pedigree here and I think that will be enough to win here, but Jake DeArruda defeated a great 6 game winner in Troy Meyer and won 3 games. Nick Cascone was so much fun to watch in Season 37/38 Champions Wildcard Group 3 and made it through, in spite of not being favored, so he can play clearly and can’t be counted out here.

   Quarterfinal #5 – Juveria Zaheer – she lost to Hannah Wilson initially, but has come back with a vengeance in Second Chance and then Champions Wildcard. Luigi won 5 in between Seasons 38 and 39 and is formidable, but should have lost to April Marquet. Kevin Belle did win 3x’s, but his draw is formidable here.

   Quarterfinal #6 – Josh Saak – this was a tough one for me and I think 8 game winner Stephen Webb will be a very tough opponent for Josh. As others have noted, Josh has only lost to the great Matt Amodio. Brian Henegar was a 3x champ as well, but I just feel that the knowledge of the other 2 will be hard him to overcome, in spite of the buzzer skills that others have mentioned.

   Quarterfinal #7 – Ray Lalonde – Ray won 13x and his initial win was against a tough 3 day champion in Sean McShane. (I was there for the taping where Sean won his 3 games and didn’t stick around for the afternoon 2 games where Ray started his run – this was on October 24, 2022.) Melissa was strong in her 3 wins and honestly, I have no impression of Ike Barinholtz, as I haven’t watched any celebrity Jeopardy.

   Quarterfinal #8 – Ben Chan – I’d say Ben is the clear favorite in this one. His 9 wins were all in Runaway fashion, which is amazing! Emmett Stanton was 3x winner very early in Season 39 and defeated 5x champion Luigi de Guzman, only to lose to a strong 1x winner in Martha Bath. Justin Bolsen was awesome in his High School reunion win, but I just don’t see Ben Chan losing. He’s also a Green Bay Packers fan, which I am as well and makes him a favorite of mine.

   Quarterfinal #9 – Troy Meyer – Troy was a 6x winner, who appeared crestfallen when he lost to Jake DeArruda. 3x champion Sean McShane is pretty impressive (won by 2 by Runaway – which I saw in person) and he was the first multi-game winner after Cris Pannullo was defeated. Deb Bilodeau just played and won Group 2 of the 2024 Champions Wildcard and was extremely charismatic, but I believe received a hard draw here.

   So, we’ll see what happend again starting tomorrow night. 🙂

5. Andrew Ray | February 26, 2024 at 5:43 pm |

   Game 1: Emily Sands
   Game 2: Cris Pannullo
   Game 3: Yungsheng Wang
   Game 4: Yogesh Raut
   Game 5: Juveria Zaheer
   Game 6: Josh Saak
   Game 7: Ray Lalonde
   Game 8: Ben Chan
   Game 9: Troy Meyer
   I predicted these games on 2/23 but forgot to post them lol