A/N: Hey, what do you know, it's March once again, ladies and gentlemen. And you know what that means, it's time for Pink BracketBuster No. 8. Call it the honeymoon/wedding/anniversary edition if you like. Couples teamed up in a previous one for a cruise, but this one involves honeymoons/anniversary trips, and other prizes as well.

A/N 2: I own nothing. PBB Universe belongs to psav2005, and I don't own the Suite Life or Power Rangers universes either. Just to remind you of who roots for what team:

UCLA: Tommy, Jason, Rocky, Aisha

Florida: Kimberly

USC: Zack Taylor, Trini, Adam, Tanya

Stanford: Hayley, Billy, Kat, Justin, Ethan

UNLV: Andros, Ashley, Zhane, Karone

Oregon: Carlos, Cassie

Washington State: TJ

Gonzaga: Crystal

BYU: Lindsey

Nevada: Trent, Kira

Long Beach State: Conner

San Diego: Chelsea

Cal State Fullerton: Jen Jackson (soon to be James)

Cornell: Anton

St. Mary's: Elsa

San Diego State: Cassidy, Devin

Syracuse: Ernie

Arizona State: Lt. Stone

New Mexico: Bulk

Maryland: Skull

Arizona: Eric, Wes

Bowling Green: Phil

Nebraska: Melissa

Yale: Cody, Bailey

UConn: Zack Martin, Maya, Woody, Addison

St. John's: London, Marcus

Chapter 1: Selection Sunday Reaction

March 15, 2014

3:00 p.m. PST

The Juice Bar

Angel Grove, CA

After a whole weekend of waiting, a potential historic moment was possibly set to occur.

"Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Selection Show. I'm Greg Gumbel along with my partners Seth Davis, Doug Gottlieb and Clark Kellogg and we are here to reveal the teams who will compete in the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament."

With that, the crowd gave a loud cheer, but there was an added amount of tension.

That's because a potentially historic moment was at hand; ever since the creation of this tournament, either UCLA or Florida had been in the field every single year. With Florida stuck in a rut this year, that left UCLA, who was squarely on the bubble after losing Friday in Las Vegas to Arizona.

The bar was closed for the day, and even though the East Coast Eight couldn't be there, Tommy had set up a Skype chat for this occasion. Bailey still had classes at Yale that week, thus Cody and Bailey were emanating from New Haven, but the majority of the gang was on spring break.

"Are you nervous, because I am," Rocky said.

"Yeah, Florida had a terrible year but if we don't get in, that will ruin everything," Tommy said.

"Let's begin to reveal the brackets from the NCAA and its corporate champion AT&T," Gumbel said. "We begin with the Midwest region and as most would figure the top overall seed is…the Kentucky Wildcats, undefeated at 34-0, six wins away from becoming the first college basketball team to go undefeated since Indiana in 1976."

Not surprisingly, the mention of Kentucky got resounding boos from around the room and on Skype. Everybody respected their accomplishments, but everyone also wanted them to lose very badly. In fact, that was the one thing that everybody in the room agreed on.

"Kentucky obviously the top seed overall, and the top seed in the Midwest, with its region finals in Cleveland, will meet the winner of a First Four matchup Tuesday night in Dayton between the Hampton Pirates and the Manhattan Jaspers. That matchup will be Thursday in Louisville," Gumbel said. "The eight seed in this bracket are the Bearcats of Cincinnati, 22-10 out of the American Conference and they will face off against the Purdue Boilermakers of Matt Painter, 21-12 out of the Big 10, also Thursday in Louisville."

It wouldn't be long before the first PBB school was called.

"Moving on, these are Friday/Sunday games at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The five seeded West Virginia Mountaineers out of the Big 12 will tangle with the Buffalo Bulls of the Mid-American Conference, and the 4th seeded Maryland Terrapins of the Big 10 will meet the Valparaiso Crusaders of the Horizon League," Gumbel said.

"Man, we get back in and we get that?" Skull said. "Valparaiso's a tough matchup, then either West Virginia or Buffalo. We'd better be on our Ps and Qs for both of those."

"Yeah, I can't lie to you, I'm pulling for the Big 10 there, but I was not impressed with Maryland when they played the Huskers this year," Melissa Blanks said, hair bobbing up and down. "We were horrible this year and we still almost beat you guys twice. I don't see Maryland going very far."

"Now, these matchups Friday/Sunday games in Omaha, Nebraska. The seventh seed Wichita State Shockers out of the Missouri Valley Conference, 28-4, will meet the Indiana Hoosiers, 20-13 from the Big 10. The second seeds are…the Kansas Jayhawks, 26-8 from the Big 12 and they will face the Aggies of New Mexico State, out of the Western Athletic Conference at 23-10," Gumbel said. The mention of the Aggies earned boos from Bulk, the first team not named Kentucky to get jeered.

"Typical; the tournament sticks us with Wichita State. Of course they do, right as Perry Ellis gets hurt and our entire team cannot throw a pea in the ocean," Bailey said over Skype. "I was dreading this. We'll never hear the end of it from bandwagon Shocker fans if they beat us. And they have a chance."

"Yeah, I don't envy you," Maya said via Skype. "That's going to be a real tough game. Wichita State's been through the wars all year with Northern Iowa."

"Yeah, that'd be like OU or OSU losing to Tulsa and having to hear from Golden Hurricane fans the whole year," Hayley said. "I grew up in Tulsa and Golden Canes fans like to run their mouths…a lot."

"Just beat the dumb Aggies, OK?" Bulk said. "Don't be the team that loses to a 15 and especially not those guys."

"Yeah, hopefully they take care of business but this smells like another early exit," Bailey said.

"To finalize this region, these are Thursday/Saturday games in Pittsburgh. The sixth seeded Butler Bulldogs, 22-10 of the Big East, they'll meet the 11 seed Texas Longhorns of the Big 12, 20-13," Gumbel said. The mention of Texas earned boos from both Melissa and Hayley, who shared an upside down hook 'em horns hand signal to boot. "And the third seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish, winners of the ACC Tournament last night at 29-5 will face the Northeastern Huskies of the Colonial Athletic Conference, at 23-11."

"Is Kentucky even going to have a scrimmage in that bracket?" Eric complained. "What a lousy bracket that is. They already beat Kansas by 100, the third seed is Notre Dame, and the fourth seed is Maryland? Please!"

"Yeah, rolled out the red carpet for sure," Kim said. "I'd have liked to see Kentucky and Wisconsin in Cleveland. Then Kentucky would at least have to break a sweat before the Final Four."

"Texas and Notre Dame on Saturday, could they put two more arrogant schools together if they tried?" Hayley said. "I can't believe I gotta root for Notre Dame now."

"There is a way to relieve that, you know," Melissa said. "Go Butler!"

"In all seriousness though, Notre Dame's the second best team in that bracket," Jason said. "What a joke."

"Back to reveal the South bracket with its regional finals in Houston, and the second No. 1 seed is…the Duke Blue Devils of Coach Mike Krzyzewski, they went 29-4 this year. They will begin in Charlotte, North Carolina and will face the winner of a First Four game Wednesday night between North Florida and Robert Morris," Gumbel said. The announcement of Duke as the second 1 earned cheers from Conner; raucous boos from everyone else especially the Arizona crowd.

"Also Friday/Sunday in Charlotte, the 8 seeds in this bracket are the San Diego State Aztecs of Steve Fisher, 26-8 on the season and made it to the Mountain West tournament final last night. Their opponents are the St. John's Red Storm, at 21-11," Gumbel said.

"Well, looks like we've got a long journey ahead of us," Cassidy said. "Charlotte, huh? Wonder if we'll meet Ric Flair."

"London and I will try to get tickets; don't know if we'll make it but we'll sure try," Marcus said via Skype.

"In all seriousness, no offense Marcus but I'm more concerned about SDSU than I am about St. John's. SDSU can do things to hurt Duke," Conner said.

"Now these are Thursday Saturday games in Portland, Oregon; the 5 seeds are the Runnin' Utes of Utah from the Pac-12 at 24-8 and they will face the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin, 29-4 and winners of the Southland Conference tournament title," Gumbel said. There were no boos from Lindsey Stewart, surprisingly, as a matter of fact she had a devilish grin on her face. "The 4th seed in this bracket is the Georgetown Hoyas of the Big East and they will meet the Eastern Washington Eagles of the Big Sky at 26-8."

"Lindsey, why are you smiling?" Justin said. "You hate Utah, right?"

"Of course I do, silly," Lindsey said. "But they got the perfect opponent to take them out, Stephen F. Austin. I'm going to sit back and enjoy watching the Lumberjacks chop them down Thursday."

"You know what, I kind of agree with her," Jason said. "Austin is a tough team who got to the second round and gave us a game for a while. Also played Northern Iowa very tough earlier this year. I won't be surprised to see them in the sweet 16."

"On to Seattle for Thursday/Sunday games, the 7 seeds are the Iowa Hawkeyes, 21-11 of the Big 10 and they will face the Davidson Wildcats, 24-7 of the A-10," Gumbel said. "The 2 seeds are the Gonzaga Bulldogs of Coach Mark Few and they will face 15 seed North Dakota State, 23-9 of the Summit League."

"Man, North Dakota State as a 15? Who the hell came up with that idea? And then if we win it's either Davidson again or a hot Iowa team," Crystal said. "NDSU, they beat OU last year and now we gotta play em? Committee really stuck it to us this time."

"Now, these are Thursday/Saturday games in Louisville. The six seeds are the SMU Mustangs of the American Conference, 27-6 and coached by Larry Brown. And they will meet…the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12, coached by Steve Alford and 20-13 for the year," Gumbel said. The UCLA announcement was met with thunderous cheers from the UCLA four, raucous boos from every other Pac-12 alum in the room while the UConn four booed the SMU announcement; it was SMU that had beat UConn in the American tourney finals that very day. "And the three seeds are the Iowa State Cyclones, 25-8, coached by Fred Hoiberg and fresh off a second straight Big 12 tournament championship and they will meet the UAB Blazers of Conference USA at 19-15."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Wes said. "UCLA got in, really?"

"Hate to agree with a fan of that school in Tucson, but 100 percent correct," Stone said. "You four got a gift, enjoy it. The streak continues, much as it pains."

"Yeah tell me about it. Colorado State won 27 games this year; if they don't get in but UCLA does this is a joke," Cassidy said.

"Won't matter when Iowa State beats either them or SMU," Justin said, feeling a little better now that he saw teams that could beat UCLA.

"Yeah but come on Justin, they didn't even get a first four game! Just went right on through," Ethan said. "What a joke."

Meanwhile, Wes and Eric have a look of concern on their faces.

"You don't think they'll screw us over do you?" Eric said.

"I don't know but I have a bad feeling, bro," Wes said. "If Villanova gets this top seed we're screwed."

"Now to reveal the East bracket with its region finals in Syracuse, these are Thursday/Saturday games in Pittsburgh," Gumbel said. "And the third No. 1 seed is…the Villanova Wildcats of the Big East at 32-2 coached by Jay Wright and winners of the Big East regular season and tournament titles and they will meet the 16 seed Lafayette Leopards of the Patriot League, at 20-12. Also in Pittsburgh, the 8 seed is the NC State Wolfpack of the ACC at 20-13 and they will meet the LSU Tigers of the SEC at 22-10."

"Now, in Seattle for Friday/Sunday games, the 5 seeds are the Northern Iowa Panthers of the Missouri Valley Conference, 30-3 and winners of that conference tournament and they will take on the 12 seed Wyoming Cowboys, surprising winners of the Mountain West conference tournament," Gumbel said. The announcement of Wyoming drew mild boos from Cassidy and Devin; it was Wyoming who had beat San Diego State for the Mountain West tourney title last night. "The 4 seeds are the Louisville Cardinals of the ACC and they will face the 13 seed Anteaters of UC-Irvine of the Big West at 21-12."

"Northern Iowa is going to destroy Wyoming," Devin said.

"Yep, just to show how much of a fluke that run was," Cassidy said.

"These are Friday/Sunday games in Charlotte," Gumbel said. "The Michigan State Spartans, 23-11, who played in the Big 10's tournament title game today earn the 7 seed and they will face off against 10 seed Georgia, 21-11 from the SEC. The 2 seeds are the Virginia Cavaliers of the ACC at 29-3, and they will meet the Belmont Bruins, 22-10, winners of the Ohio Valley tournament title."

"Now, Friday/Sunday matchups in Columbus; the third seeded Oklahoma Sooners of the Big 12 will face off against the 14 seed Great Danes of Albany from the America East conference. And the 6 seed Providence Friars of the Big East will meet the winner of a First Four game in Dayton Wednesday night between Boise State and Dayton," Gumbel said.

"Man, stick us with North Dakota State last year and stick us with Albany this year, and they almost beat Florida!" Hayley said. "Talk about a tough 14 seed."

"Win that first game though and Oklahoma can get to the second weekend," Jason said. "Providence isn't that tough and Dayton's going to lose one of those first two games."

"Michigan State over Virginia in round 2," Trini said.

"Aren't you the one who picked UVA to win it all last year?" London said over Skype.

"Guilty as charged," Trini said. "And they would have been my pick most of this year except that Justin Anderson got hurt and they're having to deal with Belmont then MSU. Bad draw plus injury means they go home early."

"I want you to be wrong because ACC but yes that may very well happen," Conner said. "They are not the same team Duke played earlier this year."

"And UCI?" the soon to be Chelsea McKnight asked (they were getting married in June)

"Going home first game, Louisville's gonna crush em," Conner said.

"Man, this almost certainly means Arizona and Wisconsin again," Wes said. "How stupid can this committee be?"

"I almost think the NCAA is lazy, either that or there's a constant effort to benefit East teams and ESPN," Stone said. "I hate to agree with you both, Fork 'em Devils and all, but Arizona's getting jammed here, very badly. Not that I'm totally upset but I can't stand stupidity and this is stupid."

"I used to think like Edge, that Michael Cole was the personification of stupidity, but I think he's been replaced by the NCAA. At least Cole has the Wrestling God to check him," Cody said over Skype. "We're on spring break so I've been watching a lot of basketball. Arizona is without question the second best team in the country to me at least."

"The weird thing is that with our stupid academic calendars at Yale that he got a month off while I get nothing!" Bailey said. "Our spring break for the medical school is for first and second year students only. Wilfred had been running his mouth about flying us to Vegas since we just turned 21 for spring break but I have classes."

"Wow, that is totally stupid," Kimberly said. "At Florida, we had nothing like that."

"I'll tell you what's really stupid, that it looks like Colorado State may not get in. 27 wins and looks like no bid. Unreal," Devin said.

"Back to reveal our fourth and final region, the West Region with its region finals in Los Angeles. Here are Friday/Sunday games in Omaha. The fourth and final top seeds are the Wisconsin Badgers of the Big 10, winners of both regular season and conference tournament titles," Gumbel said. "They will face off with the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina, 24-9 from the Big South. The 8 seeds are the Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12, 25-9 and they'll meet Oklahoma State of the Big 12, coming in 18-13."

These announcements got some of the most polarizing reactions of the Selection Show; Wes and Eric booed the Wisconsin announcement but only mildly as they knew the Wildcats would have to go through Wisconsin anyways and their vitriol was not aimed at Wisconsin itself.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma State/Oregon announcement got simultaneous boos and cheers; boos from Hayley at the announcement of OSU and cheers from Carlos and Cassie at the Oregon announcement, along with boos from most of the other Pac-12 schools.

"Now for Thursday/Saturday games in Jacksonville; the 4 seeds are the North Carolina Tar Heels of Roy Williams, who come in at 24-11 and will face the Harvard Crimson, coming in at 22-7," Gumbel said. This matchup drew all kinds of boos; the first from Conner at the UNC announcement and then very loud boos from Cody and Bailey at the Harvard announcement as Harvard was not only a major rival but had beaten Yale in a one game playoff last night to advance to the Dance. "The 5 seeds are the Arkansas Razorbacks, at 26-8 from the SEC and they'll meet Wofford, 28-6 of the Southern Conference."

"As much as I hate it those idiots are probably going to beat UNC and make it to the Sweet 16," Bailey sighed. "Stupid, stupid, stupid Harvard."

"Yeah, I have to agree there, and not just because I'm a Duke fan," Conner said. "UNC's not a great shooting team and if you keep Paige contained you can beat them. Amaker's a Duke guy as well so kind of rooting for him."

"Ugh, us root for Harvard? No way," Cody said.

"Now for Thursday/Saturday matchups in Portland, the 7 seed Virginia Commonwealth Rams of the Atlantic 10, at 26-9 will take on the Big 10's Ohio State Buckeyes, seeded No. 10 at 23-10," Gumbel said. The Ohio State announcement, as usual, got plenty of jeers in the room.

"The 2 seeds meanwhile are the Arizona Wildcats, winners of the Pac-12 regular season and tourney titles and they will face 15 seed Texas Southern at 22-12," Gumbel said. That earned cheers from Wes and Eric but only mild cheers, in their minds they were stalking bigger game than just a two seed.

"And in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday and Sunday, the 3 seeds are the Baylor Bears of the Big 12 at 24-9 and they'll meet the winner of the Sun Belt conference tournament, the Georgia State Panthers, also at 24-9," Gumbel said. "And to round out the bracket, the six seeds the Xavier Musketeers will meet the winner of a First Four game Tuesday night between 20-12 Ole Miss of the SEC and 25-9 BYU of the West Coast Conference."

Immediately after the brackets were announced the room descended into complete mayhem for a few moments.

"You guys going to Portland?" Crystal said as she walked up to Wes and Eric.

"Would love to, but don't know if we can get off Silver Guardians business," Eric said. "If I had to wager I'd say probably not. It's not a hop, skip and jump up to Portland like it was to San Diego last year or Vegas for the tourney last week."

"True it isn't," TJ said. "I normally wouldn't take a couple of Pac-12 fans not named Wazzu to a tournament game, but since I think Arizona got jammed I'd be willing to relent. We're going to Seattle so let us know. You'll be in Staples when Arizona makes it right?"

"Oh yeah, we'll be there if and when the team makes it out of Portland," Wes said.

"I'm going to Omaha for the games there and taking Carlos and Cassie with me, so have fun in Seattle," Melissa said.

"Wish I could be there too for the Kansas games, but of course, stupid Yale and stupid classes," Bailey said.

"All right, everyone listen up!" Jason and Tommy said as they came out with the brackets. "Guys, did you receive yours? We just sent an email."

"Yeah we got em," Bailey said.

"Same over here, got them all," Zack Martin said.

"Same over here," Marcus said.

"I think everyone who's done this knows the rules and the deadlines, but as usual we do have some very cool prizes on tap this year," Tommy said.

"As everyone knows, this is a year of weddings for us," Jen Jackson said. "Ethan and I are getting married this summer."

"And so are Conner and I," Chelsea Matthews said.

"So, keep this in mind, we aren't playing couples like we did a few years ago, but we do have couples in mind," Jason said. "So, the third place winner of the contest, if eligible, will win tickets to next year's Price is Right Valentine's Day show, which I assume will be taped next February some time. In addition, you'll win two all-tournament passes to the Pac-12 basketball tournament next March in Las Vegas."

"Now for the second prize," Tommy said. "With the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight upcoming, we thought it might be a nice tie in. So, the winner of the second prize, depending on the couple who this person is associated with, wins dual bachelor and bachelorette parties at the MGM Grand in Vegas, and also wins tickets to the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight."

"And now for the first prize," Jason said. "The winner of this competition, depending on the couple, will receive an all-expenses paid, seven night stay in Hawaii. The time and place can be your choice, if it happens to be one of the couples getting married you can make that your honeymoon. If it's a specific anniversary, you can make it then too."

"Now, we should have done this last year when we had everyone here at once," Jason continued, "but I think we should draw a line in the sand. Everyone's picks, right here right now. Tommy we'll save you for last since that's the one everyone's waiting on."

"As much as I hate to say it, Kentucky," Bailey said (and received boos). "No one is beating them, no one."

"Come on Bailey, you hate Kentucky for heaven's sake. Arizona all the way," Cody said as he was met with applause from Wes and Eric. "They smother people. UK hasn't played anyone like them."

"Duke," Maya said, which also got thunderous boos.

"Wisconsin, in tribute to Moseby," Woody said.

"Duke," Addison said.

"Gonzaga," Zack Martin said.

"St. John's," Marcus said which caused everyone to laugh. "SIKE! No really, we'll lose to SDSU. I'll take Virginia."

"Kentucky," London said, which got more of a hearty chuckle than anything.

"Oklahoma," Hayley said which caused everyone to laugh. "No, I'm just kidding too. We may make the Final 4 or lose to Albany. I hate it, but I'm going Duke."

"On Wisconsin," Ethan said.

"I hate picking a Pac-12 school, but Arizona," Billy said.

"The impossible dream; Hoiball and Iowa State," Justin said.

"Hate to say it, but Kentucky," Katherine said.

"Well, I can't pick Arizona, Pac 12 school. I can't pick Kentucky, obvious reasons. I can't pick Duke, Conner is a fan of theirs," Carlos said. "And I can't pick Wisconsin since the Ducks will probably lose to them. That leaves me one option; Villanova."

"I'm with you on all that except for the team," Cassie said. "I'm taking Gonzaga."

"Thank you very much, Zack Martin and Cassie," Crystal said. "You know where I stand. Go Zags; this IS our year."

"Bear Down all the way. It's our time," Eric said.

"I worry about Wisconsin before Kentucky but yes, Bear Down as well," Wes said.

"Kentucky, as much as I hate it," Andros said.

"Duke," Ashley said.

"Duke," Karone said.

"Make it a second one for Villanova," Zhane said.

"BYU; nope just kidding," Lindsey said. "In all seriousness, I got Wisconsin."

"I want to pick Wisconsin, Big 10 and all but this year I think it's Arizona," Melissa said. "Brandon Ashley is the difference; they'll win this time. Over Duke in the Finals."

At that point each of the Small School Six (Trent, Kira, Chelsea, Jen Jackson, Anton and Elsa), as they were known stood up at once.

"Northern Iowa," they all said at once.

"In solidarity of small schools everywhere," Elsa said.

"Kentucky," Cassidy said.

"Yep, Kentucky as well," Devin said. "I would consider picking Duke but they'll probably beat SDSU so not picking them to win."

"I loathe Kentucky," Ernie said. "But I think they'll win too."

"Bucky's Badger, JJ Watt's alma mater, Wisconsin," Stone said. "The only team that I think has a legit chance to knock out UK."

"Any team that beats New Mexico State, so Rock Chalk Jayhawk," Bulk said.

"Arizona," Skull said. "We may have to face Kentucky in our region and I hate them, plus I won't pick Duke ever either. So give me Arizona."

"Wisconsin," Aisha said.

"I hate Kentucky, but they'll win," Rocky said.

"I hate picking any Pac school but I think they've got the goods; Arizona," Jason said.

"I'm rolling with Justin believe it or not. Give me Hoiball," Tanya said.

"No way, Kentucky's got it lock and key…and I hate them too but no one's beating them," Zack Taylor said.

"Got burned by the Badgers once, so no. Pick Kentucky, no chance. Arizona, no way. That leaves me one option; Duke," Trini said.

"Bear Down, Arizona," Phil Savitt said. "Anyone but UK."

"How about a little out there pick; Baylor," Adam said.

"Not as out there as Northern Iowa," Hayley said. "In all seriousness, Baylor's a good team. Tough region though."

"I don't like them but I think they'll win; Arizona," TJ said. "Anyone but Kentucky."

"I finally feel we have the team that can do it again. Go Duke!" Conner said which received raucous boos.

"Arizona wins it all," Kimberly said.

"Well, we saved you for last, bro, for good reason," Jason said. "What's it gonna be?"

"Well, I'm going to put my jinx to the ultimate test," Tommy said. "Because the way I look at it is this; if they win I won't be happy but I'd have a shot to win the grand prize at least. And if they lose, well I'd be pretty happy there too and I'll just know I'm forever jinxed. Long story short, give me Kentucky. But I'll be hoping like hell they lose."

"Good stance to take," Jason said. "Go with the safe pick, hope like hell they lose but if they win you'll have a shot to win it all. And you have to admit, they are the overwhelming favorite and rightly so."

"With that said, this meeting is adjourned," Kimberly said.

And as the group all left the Youth Center, a lone figure stood in the shadows watching them all, but in particular Wes.

"You still make me proud, Wes," the lone figure said. "Bear Down, and perhaps some day soon we will see each other again."

TBC…