With Kentucky’s 67-59 win over Kansas last night, March Madness has officially come to an end. That also means that it is time to declare a winner in TVNewser’s 2012 March Madness bracket challenge.
Your 2012 TVNewser bracket challenge winner is…
Fox Business Network stocks editor Liz MacDonald!
“It was great fun going up against really tough competition,” MacDonald says. “I am honored and thrilled to be this year’s champion.”
It was a close match this year, with CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux and Kyra Phillips very close behind MacDonald in the standings. This is the second straight year that a competitor for one of the business news networks won. Last year’s winner was Bloomberg TV’s Dominic Chu. Chu also had a good showing this year, placing ninth.
In last place, tragically, was your humble TVNewser editor, who clearly needs to reevaluate his college basketball picking skills. My strategy of picking teams who had cool mascots (Blue Devils? Awesome!) may not have been the most sound.
A big “Thank You!” to all of this year’s participants.
The final standings are below.
| Rank | Name | Score | Champ (Final score) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liz MacDonald | 144 | Kentucky (139) |
| 2 | Suzanne Malveaux | 128 | Kentucky (96) |
| 3 | Kyra Phillips | 127 | Kentucky (120) |
| 4 | Brian Sullivan | 123 | Kentucky (141) |
| 5 | Janelle Rodriguez | 121 | Kentucky (147) |
| 6 | Sandy Cannold | 115 | Kentucky (140) |
| 7 | Willie Geist | 110 | Kentucky (142) |
| 8 | KC Sullivan | 107 | Kentucky (127) |
| 9 | Dominic Chu | 106 | Kentucky (123) |
| 10 | Brooke Baldwin | 96 | North Carolina (165) |
| 11 | Harris Faulkner | 92 | Kansas (162) |
| 12 | John Antonio | 89 | North Carolina (104) |
| 12 | Stephanie Ruhle | 89 | Kansas (129) |
| 14 | Rich Edson | 88 | Syracuse (175) |
| 15 | Matt Quayle | 86 | North Carolina (138) |
| 16 | Cory Johnson | 84 | North Carolina (156) |
| 17 | Joe Kernen | 82 | Ohio St. (130) |
| 18 | Randi Kaye | 81 | Syracuse (155) |
| 19 | Alex Korson | 80 | North Carolina (147) |
| 19 | Becky Quick | 80 | Florida St. (172) |
| 21 | Fredricka Whitfield | 71 | Vanderbilt (148) |
| 22 | Bill Wolff | 70 | North Carolina (151) |
| 23 | Rome Hartman | 69 | Duke (127) |
| 24 | Regina Gilgan | 68 | Georgetown (114) |
| 25 | Don Lemon | 62 | Duke (125) |
| 25 | John Roberts | 62 | North Carolina (196) |
| 27 | Steve Friedman | 60 | Michigan St. (137) |
| 28 | Carol Costello | 57 | Ohio St. (130) |
| 29 | John Melloy | 54 | North Carolina (148) |
| 30 | Alex Weprin | 52 | Duke (122) |