I just sat down to take a look at the NCAA bracket for the first time Monday evening.

First up, where's Syracuse? Am I not seeing it with all that small type on the bracket? C'mon, 22 wins and a 10-6 record in the rugged Big East Conference. They've got to be somewhere in there, right?

Once again, there's always going to be a handful of teams that are on the outside looking in, but, sadly, teams like the Orange, West Virginia, Clemson and Mississippi State were tough to see miss the tournament.

I'm all for mid-majors and conference champions getting in, but it's sad to see teams that play a high-quality, competitive schedule — WVU did beat UCLAthis season — miss out.

A couple of weeks ago, there was talk of the Big East getting a remarkable eight teams in the tournament, but it had to settle for six.

And while we're ripping the NCAA a little bit, why do they want to have basketball games played on a Sunday the pairings are announced?

The Atlantic Coast Conference (North Carolina over North Carolina State), Big 12 (Kansas over Texas in overtime), Big Ten (Ohio State over Wisconsin) and Southeastern Conference (Florida over Arkansas) all had their championship finals on Sunday.

I'm sure the NCAA has every scenario set up (e.g., if North Carolina beats N.C. State, then we'll make so and so a No. 2 seed and this team a No. 4 seed or vice versa), but why place yourself under all the addition scrutiny?

I know the conferences want people to travel to their respective tournaments and trying to make it a long, weekend is great, but why give yourself no margin of error?

Conference champions should be crowned Saturday evening with the pairings Sunday evening. The committed then would have the entire morning and afternoon to nail down a bracket with a lot more thought.

The WPIAL has the same problem with its playoff system. It makes teams finish their conference games by a particular Saturday, then allows teams to play a nonconference game Monday, then have the playoff pairings meeting on Tuesday.

Scrap that.

All games should be done by Saturday — period. Then the pairings meeting should be held Monday night with pigtail games starting Wednesday and all other first-round games played Friday and Saturday.

You have built-in time to play with in case of bad weather, such as the storm that delayed this year's pairings meeting.

Anyway, back to the NCAA. I doubt if viewership will drop because a couple of teams that didn't make the tournament.

But how do you fix it? Other than doubling the field — which would add an extra round, but dim the excitement — or have an open tournament, which would really water it down and drag it out.

I guess a little controversy and debate before the actual tournament itself will make it exciting, but the NCAA knows that, come Thursday, all will be forgotten.

And the fun is just beginning.