Daily analysis, Tuesday, February 18 – 2014 College Championship, SF #2

Semifinal #2 pits our three top scorers from the quarters, representing Princeton, UCLA, and Vanderbilt.

Another very solid game, with Ben pulling away toward the end. But, as Alex is fond of saying, “It’s not a runaway!”

Terry O’Shea (Princeton): 12,000
Ben Juster (UCLA): 19,800
Eric Turner (Vanderbilt): 7,200

The Final Jeopardy! category: PHYSICS

Here’s what each player should do.

Ben should wager 4,201.

Terry should wager everything, but at a bare minimum 3,600, and preferably at least 7,801.

Eric is out of contention, so why not go for everything just in case?

More interesting is the second Daily Double in Double Jeopardy!, which Ben found under the 800 space in COUNTRY MATH. Two 400 clues remained. I would have been salivating over this one.

The scores were:

Terry: 11,600
Ben: 16,800
Eric: 7,200

Had I been in his shoes, I would have wagered 8,001. That way, if I’m right, Terry can’t catch me, even if she picks up the final two clues.

HOWEVER, 3,000 is actually an excellent wager, because if Ben is right, he takes Eric out of contention. (Remember, third place is in contention only if second + third ≥ first.) He would need to wager at least 2,801 to do that here. It doesn’t matter which combination of Terry and Eric gets the final two clues; Eric is still locked out.

The Final Jeopardy! clue for February 18, 2014 (PHYSICS):

THE NAME OF THIS THEORY IS FROM VIEWING SUB-ATOMIC PARTICLES AS 1-DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS, NOT AS 0-DIMENSIONAL POINTS

Correct response: What is string theory?