The 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament returns tonight with No. 7 seed Michigan versus No. 3 seed Oregon to begin the Sweet 16 at 7:09 p.m. ET on CBS. No. 4 seed West Virginia takes on No. 1 seed Gonzaga at 7:39 p.m. ET on TBS. The prime time action follows with No. 4 seed Purdue taking on No. 1 seed Kansas at approximately 9:39 p.m. ET on CBS, and No. 11 seed Xavier taking on No. 2 seed Arizona at approximately 10:09 p.m. ET on TBS.
The other Sweet 16 games tip off tomorrow evening on CBS and TBS, respectively.
This year’s TVNewser Bracket Challenge is a wide open affair right now. CNBC is dominating the top of the field. CNBC Markets reporter (and 2011 TVNewser Bracket Challenge champion) Dominic Chu and Closing Bell co-anchor Kelly Evans are tied for first place with 50 points each. Round 1 leader Sara Eisen is just one point behind her colleagues at 49, tied with Matt Rosoff of CNBC digital.
CNN New Day co-host Dave Briggs, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt, CNBC’s senior editor at large for data journalism Eric Chemi, CNBC senior field producer Jessica Golden, CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor Joe Kernen and yours truly round out the top 10. Out of those in the top 10, Eisen, Briggs, Golden and I saw our picks to win it all, Duke, bow out in the Round of 32.
Here’s are the standings going into tonight’s festivities:
| RANK | NAME | SCORE | CORRECT | BEST SCORE | BEST CORRECT | CHAMPION |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominic Chu | 50 | 38 | 134 | 47 | Kentucky (129) |
| 1 | Kelly Evans | 50 | 38 | 158 | 49 | UCLA (155) |
| 3 | Matt Rrosoff | 49 | 38 | 157 | 49 | Arizona (128) |
| 3 | Sara Eisen | 49 | 39 | 85 | 46 | Duke (160) |
| 5 | A.J. Katz | 48 | 37 | 112 | 47 | Duke (145) |
| 5 | Dave Briggs | 48 | 37 | 112 | 47 | Duke (161) |
| 5 | Kasie Hunt | 48 | 37 | 136 | 46 | Kentucky (150) |
| 8 | Eric Chemi | 46 | 37 | 138 | 47 | UCLA (155) |
| 8 | Jessica Golden | 46 | 36 | 110 | 46 | Duke (158) |
| 8 | Joe Kernen | 46 | 36 | 126 | 44 | N. Carolina (139) |
| 11 | Blake Burman | 45 | 35 | 129 | 44 | UCLA (152) |
| 11 | Liz Claman | 45 | 35 | 157 | 47 | UCLA (126) |
| 11 | Peter Alexander | 45 | 36 | 129 | 45 | Gonzaga (147) |
| 14 | Andrew Ross Sorkin | 43 | 35 | 99 | 43 | Villanova (140) |
| 14 | Brian Kilmeade | 43 | 35 | 119 | 42 | N. Carolina (149) |
| 16 | Bill Weir | 42 | 34 | 138 | 45 | Kansas (128) |
| 16 | Brian Steel | 42 | 34 | 154 | 46 | N. Carolina (137) |
| 16 | Todd Bonin | 42 | 32 | 162 | 45 | Kansas (154) |
| 19 | Janelle Rodriguez | 39 | 31 | 87 | 38 | Villanova (186) |
| 19 | Matt Quayle | 39 | 31 | 135 | 40 | Gonzaga (150) |
| 21 | David Westin | 38 | 30 | 130 | 40 | Michigan (167) |
| 22 | Bob Van Dillen | 36 | 29 | 136 | 39 | N. Carolina (123) |
| 23 | Steve Kornacki | 34 | 28 | 50 | 31 | Villanova (141) |
| 24 | Willie Geist | 31 | 26 | 111 | 34 | UCLA (145) |
| 25 | Janice Dean | 30 | 26 | 70 | 31 | Louisville (160) |