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CHAMPAIGN – An analysis of Michigan's Wolverines as an ongoing football power could determine the Big Ten's divisional alignment when Commissioner Jim Delany and conference athletic directors hammer out future schedules early next month.

Why Michigan?

Because it isn't clear where the once-proud but recently troubled Wolverines fit in the Big Ten pecking order. It is anyone's guess which direction the Wolverines are headed.

Michigan was a dominant, national-recruiting force from the day Bo Schembechler took over in 1969 ... earning 21 Big Ten championships between 1969 and 2004, and the national title in 1997 ... and maintaining a punishing presence until the shocking season-opening losses to Appalachian State (34-32) and Oregon (39-7) in 2007.

The Wolverines recovered significantly that season, coming up 9-4. However, continued failures against arch-rival Ohio State cost Lloyd Carr his job and brought an end to the "Schembechler era." In two seasons under Rich Rodriguez, the Wolverines have received NCAA sanctions while dropping 13 of 16 Big Ten games, including two against an Illinois team that had beaten Michigan four times in the previous 47 years. Rodriguez is very much on the hot seat as he enters a third campaign that could be his last there.

So, when Delany and the directors sit down in two weeks, how do they rate Michigan? Where do the Wolverines fit in the new 12-team lineup that will require adjustments in a 2011 schedule that was previously announced (Illinois and Ohio State didn't meet in the original).

Ron Guenther, Illini athletic director, said recently that parity between the two six-team divisions is critical in setting up a lucrative playoff game, and that 10-year records will be taken into consideration.

Six conference members are significantly ahead in the 10-year audit. They are Ohio State (102 wins), Wisconsin (86), Nebraska (84), Michigan (81), Iowa (80) and Penn State (78). Clearly, those six should be divided equally. And it would make sense to split them along geographical and, in this case, time zone lines. That throws OSU, PSU and Michigan in the East, and Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin in the West.

Perfect! And it follows suit that Purdue (68), Michigan State (65) and Indiana (39) fall in the East, with Minnesota (62), Northwestern (61) and Illinois (45) in the West.

But there is a fallacy in basing the decision on total wins. Some teams played tougher schedules than others. So let's review it on conference games only. And there we find Ohio State (64), Michigan (53), Iowa (49), Nebraska (47 in the Big 12), Penn State (45) and Wisconsin (44, with a 31-17 Big Ten record in the last six years).

Some will say that "time zone" divisions would be unbalanced in favor of the East.

To which I say, it'll never be perfect, and no one can predict how it will develop in the future. Who could have predicted that Iowa would go 7-1 vs. Penn State during the past decade? Who could have predicted that, with all those down years, Illinois would roll out an undisputed Big Ten champion in 2001 and defeat No. 1-ranked OSU to reach the Rose Bowl in 2007?

Look at the Big 12. When the UI's Kent Brown was publicist for Kansas State in the late 1990s, the power was in the North with K-State, Nebraska and Colorado. Texas was in the process of ousting coach John Mackovic. Oklahoma hadn't hired Bob Stoops yet. A decade later, the balance of power had dramatically shifted. Texas grew so strong that the Longhorns could call the shots, and it took some mighty negotiating by people emphasizing the best interests of the sport – conference commissioners, ADs and business and network executives – to hold the league together without Nebraska and Colorado.

Point is, there is always change. And that brings us back to Michigan.

The same football-heavy brand that brought Nebraska into the Big Ten – the Cornhuskers have more wins in the last 50 years than any program – is still there. Michigan's helmets are still the most distinctive in the game. A $226 million renovation allows the Big House to seat 109,901, and 61 of 81 new suits have been purchased.

But the Wolverines don't have the recruiting impact in Florida that they once did. Nor is it likely they'll beat the Buckeyes on top recruits in Ohio. Detroit is depressed to the point of free-fall, with sections of the community being virtually abandoned and bulldozed. Newspapers in Ann Arbor and Detroit lost subscriptions and advertising to the point where publications were limited. There are all kinds of indications that Wisconsin's Badgers, located in a still-vibrant capital city and coming off a 10-3 season, is better situated football-wise.

That's why I strongly support the "time zone" divisions. You can argue that the OSU, Michigan and Penn State brands are stronger, and I'll argue that Iowa is 7-1 vs. Penn State, that Wisconsin has won at least nine games in five of the last six years, and that Nebraska has bounced back with 19 wins in the last two years.

Keep it simple, Jim. Don't confuse the public by crossing geographical lines. Sure, you can cite Mixmaster examples in pro baseball and football where geography has been overlooked, and I say, "Don't do it." Keep Purdue and Indiana together. Don't split OSU and Michigan. Give geography a chance.

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The farce continues with this crazy policy in which baseball's All-Star game determines homefield advantage in the World Series.

The Series is important. The All-Star game is an exhibition. The two shouldn't be mixed.

OK, it might work in the Cardinals' favor this year if, somehow, they reached the World Series and Adam Wainwright, who is 10-0 at home, is lined up to pitch the first and seventh games.

But this is a flawed approach. We've known it since 1957 when Cincinnati fans, aided by newspaper printouts, voted seven members of the Reds onto the team. It was reported that more than half the ballots that year originated in Cincinnati. This was vote-early, vote-often ... an idea stolen from Chicago-style politics.

Commissioner Ford Frick stepped in to replace two Cincinnati outfielders with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays – not a bad idea – and the policy of fans voting was scrapped until 1970 when, yikes, they did it again. And here we are in 2010, breaking all the rules of competition, not always getting the right players in place, subbing for starters in mid-game just so others can play, removing pitchers after two innings regardless of performance, trying to find the happy medium between (1) trying to win and (2) keeping everyone happy.

Voting by the fans created a farce in 1957, and it's no different today. You can't take an exhibition and turn it into genuine competitive any more than you can force NBA stars to play defense in their midseason classic.

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For the better part of four decades, from the 1940s through 1979, the late Larry Stewart was the "Voice of the Illini" and, as a WDWS radio host, a prominent fixture in the community scene.

Thirty years later, son Matt Stewart is taking on the same "star" quality. Matt is the lead guitarist with John "Cody" Sokolski's rock foursome, the Delta Kings, and they helped entertain the stunning turnout of thousands who attended Champaign's 150th celebration last weekend.

These guys put your feet in motion with the energetic Sokolski writing his own stuff and showing it off with a Bruce Springsteen flair, while Stewart sends fingers roaming along the strings like a younger Keith Richards. Way to go, guys. You nailed me both nights.

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Sometimes we forget: There's a lot of money to be made in professional basketball beyond the NBA.

At this point, assuming Kiwane Garris returns to Italy and if both Warren Carter and Shaun Pruitt locate teams this fall (Pruitt played in three countries his first year), 20 former Illini players could be making a living playing the game. That includes Deron Williams, Utah Jazz all-star; Brian Cook, newly signed to a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, and Luther Head, who is back looking for NBA work after a $2.5 million deal with New Orleans was mysteriously rescinded. Three others, James Augustine (Utah), Dee Brown (Toronto) and Pruitt (Phoenix), have competed this month for NBA summer teams Utah and Toronto, in what amounts to tryouts.

Trent Meacham, one of numerous former Illini who have visited Illini summer scrimmages, will take a step up from Austria to the Goettingen, Germany team that Chester Frazier played on last season.

According to Meacham, the team has no restrictions on the number of Americans who can compete. He'll make $50,000 tax-free with a car and an apartment, not to mention paid-for plane trips.

Roughly half of the 20 former Illini players are believed to be earning six figures, including Israel Galil Gilboa standout Brian Randle and a trio – Robert Archibald, Roger Powell and Augustine – who competed in Spain last season.

The NBA is every basketball player's goal, but you don't have to make the Big Time to make a good living. In these tight times, how many 25-year-olds do you know who are making $100,000 ... or $50,000? And all these guys have to do is play the game they love.

REASON TO FEEL YOUNG:

New seasons always excite me, and I'm once again caught up with the new electricity, a heightened level of basketball competition at Ubben, particularly on the wings where Illini starters D.J. Richardson and Bill Cole are being challenged by the supremely athletic quartet of Jereme Richmond, Brandon Paul, Crandall Head and Joe Bertrand. No wonder Rock Island's Chasson Randle is thinking twice about diving into that youthful mix. The hope here is that UI talent doesn't scare away Cedar Rapids' Josh Oglesby because the Washington High senior might reach a seldom-attained level as a passer-shooter. I see Jon Scheyer qualities in him.

REASON TO FEEL OLD:

After roughly 70 years of playing summer ball in some sort of organized or rec-league fashion, after competing in softball and baseball for what I once counted as 39 different teams (in the E.I. League alone: Seymour, Monticello, Ivesdale, two Champaign teams, Gifford-Flatville and, in the state tournament, Buckley), an aching back and diminishing talents informed me that I'm done with the 55-and-overs (you saw the picture of my teammate Mike Carey, he of the 3,000 homers; yes, we are at a different level). Having noted that most college and pro players avoid slow-pitch softball when they retire, it causes me to wonder whether I would have kept playing all these years if I had reached my goals with the Illini, having been cut from squad-deciding spring trips by both Wally Roettger as a sophomore and Lee Eilbracht as a junior (both good decisions on their part).