Me-Wow! Rabbit Catches Cat

Veterans Take Over Top Spots

The “Last” Shall Be First?

Always Next Year For Lombard

By virtue of the second tie-breaker—most teams in the Sweet 16—Jungle Cat retained her #1 position on the leaderboard over theRabbit (Justin Thompson). The two players each have 67 points, and they each were rewarded for sticking with their home teams. Thompson, an MSU alum, had the Spartans over Virginia, and Jungle Cat, originally from Wichita, picked Wichita State over their in-state rival.

A deciding game between the two could be a potential Kentucky-Wichita State matchup in the Elite 8. The Cat has the Shockers advancing all the way to the championship game, while Rabbit has Kentucky winning it all.

The biggest thing in Rabbit’s favor right now is he is the top-ranked player with Kentucky as the champion. This fact means that even you have Kentucky and they do win it all, if you can’t catch the Rabbit in the other games, you won’t beat him.

Rabbit is in his eighth year of competition, and he has two top-10 finishes under his belt. In 2009, he finished fourth. His score that year of 182 points still ranks fifth all-time.

An imposing lineup of veterans sits right below Cat and Rabbit. From places 3-15, only three players have less than five years’ experience, and none are rookies. The Girls On Fire!!!, Polar Bear, Stump, The Bryman, MAMA, D’Vigorous Lover, Vanadeum, and Hoop Scoop are all in at least their 10th Chippens season.

The player with the most to lose—or gain, depending on how you look at it—is Just don’t finish last (Derek Dawson). Dawson jumped 56 spots Sunday into 9th place, and he is the only player with a completely intact Elite 8. He no longer has to worry about finishing last, but he could just finish first.

No player should get too confident, however. According to the Player Scenarios report, which was posted today, 52 players still have a shot to win it all. Even little BabyJay—currently in last (by a lot)—still has hope. Sadly, not among the 52 is #ThisIsMyYear (Adam Lombard). Sorry Adam.

I know this is not Adam’s year (for the 10th year in a row) because Player Scenarios tells you your highest and lowest possible place, and it also tells you which teams to root for. Check it out before the games start up again Thursday.