2018 TVNewser Bracket Challenge Update: A Familiar Face Has Emerged at the Top of the Heap

With the exception of UMBC over Virginia, the round of 64 was relatively tame this year on the upsets front.

The round of 32 was anything but.

Upsets were everywhere this past weekend. Xavier, the No. 1 seed in the West, fell to No. 9 Florida State. No. 7 seed Nevada came back from a 22-point deficit to take out No. 2 seed Cincinnati. No. 3 seed Michigan beat No. 6 seed Houston with a buzzer beater from three-point land. No. 2 seed North Carolina was blown out by No. 7 seed Texas A&M. No. 11 seed Loyola-Chicago took out No. 3 seed Tennessee, with some help from super fan Sister Jean, a 98-year-old nun who serves as the team’s chaplain.

There was also the No. 5 seed Clemson, who embarrassed No. 4 seed Auburn in a game that was never really close. No. 11 seed Syracuse, who had to win a play-in game to even get to this point, knocked off No. 3 seed Michigan State, and the aforementioned UMBC Retrievers finally saw their brief tournament run come to an end as a result of a loss to No. 9 seed Kansas State.

So who has emerged as the leader going into the Sweet 16, which tips off later this week?

It’s Dominic Chu.

The CNBC markets reporter is pretty good at this March Madness thing. Chu led the field going into the Sweet 16 last year, and he won the 2011 Bracket Challenge as a Bloomberg newser.

Chu’s CNBC colleague, Power Lunch co-anchor Tyler Mathisen, moved into second place after the weekend, followed by a trio of NBC Newsers in Sunday Today host / Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist, NBC News White House correspondent Hallie Jackson and NBC News national correspondent Peter Alexander.

Here are the standings going into the Sweet 16, which tips off on Thursday evening with No. 11 Loyola-Chicago taking on No. 7 seed Nevada from Atlanta.