Complaining about how pre-determined sites once again completely and predictably has tarnished the women's NCAA Tournament ... maybe it's as frustratingly pointless as complaining about how when I get out of my vehicle, I get a static-electric shock.

I feel like Rick Moranis in "Ghostbusters'' when he keeps locking himself out of his apartment.

If there's a way to avoid getting shocked every single time you get out of the car, feel free to let me know. If there's a way to erase the damage these two hideous years of pre-determination has wrought ...

Actually, there is no way.

NCAA Tournament history

The NCAA took over running it in 1982. That year, it had 32 teams, went to 36 in '83 and then back to 32 the next two seasons. It was 40 from 1986-88, then 48 from 1989-93. During that time, virtually all early-round games were played on the home court of the higher seed, unless there was a scheduling conflict and that school wasn't able to be a host. There was also a bizarre experiment in 1993, when the committee announced only the top 16 of the 48 seeds. The bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1994. That season, there were 32 sites for the first round and 16 for the second -- with the higher seeds as host unless, again, there was a scheduling conflict. In 1995 came the "subregional'' system, where the top four seeds in each region hosted three other teams. Meaning there were 16 early-round sites, and the hosts were the 16 top seeds (minus scheduling conflicts). This system stayed for eight years; the big complaint was that it was too predictable because the top 16 had such an advantage. But at least they had to earn it, plus it meant there was close-to equality across seeding lines. The No. 1's had similar paths, and so forth. You didn't have things like two No. 1's playing the early rounds at home and two playing on the road, as is the case this year under pre-determination. The teams with the most legitimate gripes under that former system were the No. 5 seeds and some No. 6's, because they were so close to the No. 4's competitively but didn't have that hosting advantage. Still, there was logic to it all -- as opposed to having randomly awarded homecourt advantage based on bids, not results. Under the bid process, schools have to guarantee the money. So if they don't meet ticket expectations, that's their problem. But there were some schools that bid for this season -- and would have been good draws -- but were not awarded sites. Pre-determined sites made things easier to plan for television and cut some costs. Obviously it's not the first time that TV had a big effect on the structure/practices of a sport. (Some of us will forever mourn the death of daytime World Series games.) Nor is it the first time it happened specifically in women's basketball. Remember the 9 a.m. tipoff time for the first semifinal of the 1992 Women's Final Four in Los Angeles? That was forced because of the CBS-televised back-to-back, Saturday-Sunday schedule -- where Saturday's games had to be "out of the way'' before the men started their semifinals.

The tournament's early rounds are going to some eight-teams-at-one-site thing next year, which -- if it stays in place and isn't another NCAA whim -- will rule out certain areas from ever hosting another NCAA Tournament game because they don't have enough available hotel rooms.

I guess we will worry later about whatever problems that system might cause. There's enough pre-determination carnage to occupy us for now.

Cheryl Marra is the selection committee chair, so once again she is stuck being the one who defends this disastrous, unnecessary mess for the second year in a row.

Marra was in the position Sunday of having to say stuff like UConn isn't actually hosting. Hahahahahahaha. Oh, please, stop it, you're killing us.

As if the East No. 2 Huskies somehow finding their way to Bridgeport, Conn., is in any way comparable to second-round matchups that could potentially put East No. 1 Penn State at No. 8 Virginia Tech ... or Mideast No. 2 Kansas State at No. 7 Minnesota ... or Mideast No. 3 Boston College at No. 6 Ohio State ... or West No. 3 Georgia at No. 11 Temple ... or East No. 3 Houston at No. 11 Santa Barbara .... or Mideast No. 4 Texas Tech at No. 12 Montana ... or Midwest No. 4 Baylor at No. 12 New Mexico.

Yeah, it makes absolute perfect sense to have those possibilities even exist. Right there, you have SEVEN top-four seeds which might have to play on the home court of a team that is, at minimum, three seeds worse and, at maximum, eight seeds worse.

How in anyone's universe does this fly? I've told people who don't follow women's basketball about this setup ... and they just think I'm making it up. No one would really mangle a major sporting event this way, right?

Then the people who DO follow women's basketball either are like me, feeling like they're screaming from a dungeon in Bedlam Hospital because this has driven them so bonkers, or they're still trying to find a reasonable explanation for it. Which doesn't exist.

It would be fine if UConn was in Bridgeport if all the other No. 2 seeds had similar situations. Purdue has a neutral court in Ames, Iowa, but Kansas State might have to face No. 7 Minnesota on its home court and Vanderbilt might have to do the same against No. 10 Chattanooga.

And Penn State ... has a No. 1 ever been treated like this? No. Never. First Blacksburg and then Hartford, perhaps having to face Virginia Tech and then UConn? Gee, why not have every team in the Big East get a stick and two hard swings at Penn State? Maybe Penn State's players should have to wear shoes two sizes too small, too.

But why stop there? Let's look at some more ludicrous stuff.

Congratulations, North Carolina. Last year, you were the No. 3 seed and had to play your second-round game at then-No. 6 Colorado. And you lost. This year, Tar Heels, you're a No. 4 and might have to play ANOTHER lower-seeded team -- Notre Dame, which is a No. 5 seed despite 10 FOR-CRYING-OUT-LOUD LOSSES -- on the Irish's home court in the second round. But at least, Heels, you can laugh at Colorado -- because this year the Buffs are a No. 6 again but have to go face No. 11 Santa Barbara on the Gauchos' home floor.

(By the way, how many teams -- Stanford, Colorado, TCU, Michigan State, Old Dominion, Auburn and DePaul all come to mind -- are looking at Notre Dame's No. 5 and saying, "What in the world?'' Or something a lot more profane.)

Thanks to pre-determination, we have four sites whose schools didn't make it into the tournament -- Fairfield (doesn't matter, though, because UConn fills in), Iowa State, Arizona State and Florida State.

So ... surely you'd think a Big 12 school was routed to Ames, Iowa ... uh, no. Never mind that K-State, for example, is a team Cyclone fans would have picked up as a surrogate to follow since they already KNOW the Wildcats. Forget that K-State would bring a fair amount of fans to Hilton Coliseum. Hey, you've got Mississippi and two Pennsylvania schools -- St. Francis and Villanova -- to help Purdue pack 'em in at Hilton.

There's no ACC nor Sunshine State connection in Tallahassee, but at least there's ever-popular Tennessee. There is a Pac-10 team in Tempe, Ariz., as Stanford will be there -- provided the ticked-off Cardinal don't just boycott the whole tournament.

But, hey, if that happens -- or Missouri pulls an upset over Stanford -- and Oklahoma gets past Marist (which probably will never quite grasp what time zone it is in) ... then that potential Big 12 Sooner-Tigers matchup will be richly appreciated by all of greater Phoenix, I'm sure.

Marra said that seeding took complete precedence over everything else, including any attendance issues. The goal was the "integrity of the seeding,'' and it does seem in some instances that the committee waged and "won'' some pretty ferocious battles against common sense.

Then again, the committee members might be saying, "Hey, smart-aleck, why don't YOU try putting together a sensible bracket with the pre-determination albatross around your neck.''

To which I'd respond, "I couldn't. No one can. That's the POINT.''

And the worst part is we didn't need to go through this painful exercise of "who gets hosed'' even once -- let alone twice -- to know it wasn't going to work.

Applying the principles of basic bracketology should have eliminated pre-determination before it ever saw the light of day. Instead, it's clouding up the whole tournament. Again.

Mechelle Voepel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com's women's basketball coverage. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.