I'd been meaning to drop an e-mail to my colleague Tom Oates and ease his concerns over the WIAA's discussion of the divisional placement of private schools for WIAA tournament competition.

Then I got to thinking that if Oatesy has concerns about the direction divisional placement is going -- and the so-called flaws or loopholes (his words, not mine) -- in the concepts being discussed now then perhaps others are, too.

So here is a list of what I'd label Frequently Asked Questions about divisional placement ... and answers:

Q: Why would Racine St. Catherine's and La Crosse Aquinas move from Division 3 to Division 2 under this proposal when Whitefish Bay Dominican would not?

A: St. Catherine's and Aquinas are located in communities with more than one public high school and would likely move up one division. Dominican is located in a community with one public high school and would not.

However, as Art Kabelowsky of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel pointed out in a column recently, Dominican is physically located 3.3 miles from Milwaukee King High School and 2.5 miles from Milwaukee Messmer and "is as urban as a school can be." I would look for a proximity clause -- perhaps any school, public or private, within five miles of a school in a multi-high school district -- to be included in tweaks to the current plan.

Q. Would the WIAA really make a school such as Kettle Moraine Lutheran, with 421 students, compete in the same division as Stevens Point, which has 2,414?

 A: Of course not. The plan WIAA associate director Deb Hauser brought to the Board of Control this month targeted only Division 3 and Division 4 schools for that very reason. However, the Board members asked her to include Division 2 in the plan and to return to them with data showing with additional tournament models -- including a five-division format and formats that would exempt schools among the 30 smallest in their current divisions from being moved up.

Q. Is it true if 10 private schools are bumped up from Division 2 to Division 1 that a school like Milwaukee Washington would drop from Division 1 to Division 2? 

A. Under criteria of the plan currently being considered, yes. Washington is one of several Milwaukee Public Schools that has seen its enrollment dip with the opening of charter schools, schools-within-schools, etc. But I see that "loophole" closing fairly quickly with a provision that prevents from dropping a division schools meeting the criteria for being moved up a division.

Q. Private schools are dominating the smaller divisions of other sports. Why aren't they being targeted with this plan?

A. Basketball -- especially boys basketball  -- drives much of what the WIAA does. That's a big reason why it will be the sport that works out the bugs on the divisional placement changes. But -- like seeding and summer contact rules -- it won't be long before it would be applied to those sports where the same urban/rural issues are prevalent.

Q. What do you say to Oatesy's claim that football teams in multi-high school districts should be moved down one division for postseason?

A. I got a good laugh out of that idea. Of course, Oatesy suggested to me here in the office a few weeks ago that all private schools should be moved down a division in football, too, and I bought the argument until I crunched the numbers and found that there are fewer private schools playing football than, say, basketball and they have been proportionately represented with gold trophies and state finals berths.

As for teams from multi-high school districts moving down, that wouldn't solve any problems. Those who follow high school sports know that football is an odd duck and the genetics of a successful program have less to do with the number of students in the school and everything to do with the number of students in helmets and pads. That's why I'd be very surprised to see any segment of schools moved up in football. Going back to my comment about the proportionate representation of private school champions, it's almost right on the mark. I believe about 15 percent of the schools playing football are private schools and about 15 percent of the state champions since 2000 have been private schools.

That tells me that football has solved its divisional placement issues by creating more divisions. I am by no means advocating for seven divisions in basketball, but I firmly believe five divisions and a version of the divisional placement proposal currently on the table would successfully group "like schools" in "like divisions" once and for all.