Willie Geist Is Your 2018 TVNewser Bracket Challenge Champion

The Villanova Wildcats are your 2018 national champions, which means that Willie Geist is your 2018 TVNewser Bracket Challenge champion! The Sunday Today host and Morning Joe co-host finishes this year’s challenge with 121 points, six points clear of second place finisher CNN Early Start co-host Dave Briggs, and 9 points clear of TVNewser co-editor A.J. Katz, who finished in third.

“Every kid who ever dribbled a basketball in the backyard has dreamed of hitting the big shot to win the TV Newser bracket,” Geist told TVNewser. “As I stand here covered in confetti, and the sweet sweat from a Donte DiVincenzo hug, I can tell you the reality exceeds the dream. I accept your cash prize with gratitude and humility… and preferably in non-sequential 50-dollar bills.”

Senior field producer Jessica Golden and markets reporter Dominic Chu, both of CNBC, rounded out the top 5. The top 10 finishers included PBS NewsHour anchor and senior correspondent Hari Sreenivasan, CNBC senior executive producer of Squawk on the Street and Squawk Alley Todd Bonin, CNBC Squawk Box co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin, Fox News on-air correspondent Peter Doocy, and PBS svp and general manager Michael Rancillo. Each of the top 10 finishers chose Villanova to win it all.

As mentioned, this Villanova squad delivered the school’s second college basketball title in the past three years (third overall) with yet another blowout victory in the NCAA Tournament – 79-62 over the Michigan Wolverines last night in San Antonio. ‘Nova won all six games in this year’s tournament by double digits, joining Michigan State (2000), Duke (2001) and North Carolina (2009) as the only other teams to accomplish that feat.

Michigan kept the game close for the first half of the first half, but the Wildcats pulled away thanks to a legendary performance from sharp-shooting sophomore guard Donte DiVincenzo (aka. “Big Ragu”) who was hitting three pointers from all over the floor, and was named Final Four most outstanding player.

Many thanks to each of the 47 TV newsers who participated in this year’s challenge. This was our most successful Challenge yet. See you in 2019!

RANK	TEAM NAME	SCORE	CORRECT	BEST SCORE	BEST CORRECT	CHAMPION
STANDINGS
1	Willie Geist	121	40	121	40	Villanova (148)
2	Dave Briggs	115	39	115	39	Villanova (136)
3	A.J. Katz	112	37	112	37	Villanova (158)
4	Jessica Golden	107	33	107	33	Villanova (136)
5	Dominic Chu	107	39	107	39	Villanova (129)
6	Hari Sreenivasan	106	37	106	37	Villanova (135)
6	Todd Bonin	106	36	106	36	Villanova (135)
8	Andrew Ross Sorkin	106	37	106	37	Villanova (133)
9	Peter Doocy	106	32	106	32	Villanova (151)
10	Michael Rancilio	106	37	106	37	Villanova (158)
11	Hallie Jackson	104	38	104	38	Villanova (163)
12	Robin Meade	103	37	103	37	Michigan (132)
13	Kevin Corke	102	36	102	36	Villanova (147)
14	Brian Sullivan	101	33	101	33	Villanova (161)
15	David Westin	98	35	98	35	Michigan (137)
16	Liz Claman	98	35	98	35	Villanova (120)
17	Matt Rosoff	88	28	88	28	Villanova (165)
18	Todd Piro	82	36	82	36	Virginia (157)
19	Kasie Hunt	79	36	79	36	Michigan (155)
20	Matt Quayle	78	34	78	34	Virginia (145)
21	Blake Burman	76	35	76	35	Michigan (150)
22	Lynn Smith	76	34	76	34	Virginia (117)
23	Craig Melvin	71	33	71	33	Virginia (143)
24	Dylan Dreyer	71	35	71	35	Nevada (191)
25	Bob van Dillen	70	34	70	34	N. Carolina (132)
26	Peter Alexander	68	37	68	37	Virginia (145)
27	Janelle Rodriguez	68	36	68	36	Kansas (103)
28	Brian Steel	67	31	67	31	N. Carolina (144)
29	Lisa Desjardins	66	31	66	31	Kansas (102)
30	Coy Wire	65	35	65	35	Kansas (137)
31	Mike Bettes	65	33	65	33	Virginia (153)
32	Sara Eisen	62	36	62	36	Virginia (136)
33	Jeffrey McCracken	61	33	61	33	Michigan St. (152)
34	Tyler Mathisen	61	36	61	36	Virginia (128)
35	Harris Faulkner	59	33	59	33	Kansas (150)
36	Ana Cabrera	58	35	58	35	Duke (144)
37	Judy Woodruff	58	33	58	33	Duke (136)
38	Becky Quick	57	31	57	31	Xavier (142)
39	Tom Keene	57	34	57	34	Purdue (136)
40	Joe Kernen	54	32	54	32	Xavier (137)
41	Jason Kelly	53	32	53	32	Virginia (136)
42	Sandy Cannold	53	32	53	32	Michigan St. (152)
43	Anne Tironi	49	30	49	30	Michigan St. (156)
44	Scarlet Fu	49	31	49	31	Kansas (164)
45	Alex Wilson	43	32	43	32	Virginia (159)
46	Melody Taylor	41	29	41	29	N. Carolina (146)
47	Gerri Willis	27	23	27	23	N. Carolina (160)