National Collegiate Athletic Association

A proposed settlement in a federal antitrust suit could raise NCAA limits on financial aid and allow schools to pay athletes for other expenses such as travel, health insurance and laundry. A trial scheduled in Los Angeles this month has been delayed while the settlement is being completed, plaintiffs attorney Stephen Morrissey said Friday. He would not divulge details of the proposed agreement. "When the settlement is completed, it will become public record," Morrissey said.

Mississippi officials admitted to more than half of the 15 NCAA allegations of wrongdoing in the school's football program. Ole Miss faces its second NCAA probation in seven years after the school's internal investigation confirmed in Oxford, Miss., that all or part of nine of the 15 allegations were "substantially correct." Theft charges are being sought against two starting Fresno State football players.

Perhaps the best backcourt in college basketball, Texas guards Lance Blanks, Travis Mays and Joey Wright are billed as BMW, the ultimate scoring machine. The three combined for 86 points in the Longhorns' 102-89 victory over Xavier in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal game Thursday night. Texas will play Arkansas in the final today at Reunion Arena. "I don't know of any other guards in the country better than the Texas guards," Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said Friday.

It happened the other night. Baby-faced Gary Kane, a freshman guard who has one of those "Up With People" smiles and actually drives home on most weekends just to eat his mom's cooking, had a vision. Or was it a nightmare? While reading a chapter on Japanese economics, Kane turned the page and suddenly, there he was. Anderson Hunt. That would be the same Anderson Hunt who plays guard for No. 1-ranked and undefeated Nevada Las Vegas.

Connecticut, once considered little more than sort of a bookend to Rhode Island, earned the No. 1 seeding in the East Regional of the NCAA basketball tournament Sunday and will have to be taken seriously. Connecticut, home of firsts--football's first tackling dummy, the first cookbook written by an American and the first telephone exchange--will play Boston University in the first round, Thursday night.

Richie (the Cat) Regan was watching television this week when he heard the words he could hardly believe. "Little old Seton Hall?" he said. "Little old Seton Hall? " Those words did not sit well with Regan, who got his nickname during his playing days at Seton Hall in the early 1950s--"Quick as a cat, you know. But they don't say that anymore."

1. MISSOURI (25-3) * Player to watch: Choose between senior guard Melvin Booker, the Big Eight Conference player of the year, or swingman Kelly Thames, the league's freshman of the year. Both players are largely responsible for Missouri's success. Thames is often compared to Chicago Bull forward Scottie Pippen. Same facial expressions. Somewhat similar moves.

When forward Lenzie Howell of Arkansas was a senior at Bryan Adams High in Dallas, he attended the 1986 Final Four at Reunion Arena and dreamed of what it would be like to play in it. Howell's dream came true four years later. Howell helped propel the Razorbacks to the Final Four by scoring 21 points in an 88-85 victory over Texas in the NCAA Midwest Regional final Saturday.

The Nevada Las Vegas basketball team was flying home from a game when the plane plunged 8,000 feet after losing hydraulic power. Most of the players were terrified until the plane landed safely. But UNLV guard Anderson Hunt slept through the crisis. How could that be? "I was dreaming of Las Vegas showgirls," Hunt said. The 6-foot-1 sophomore guard has been a calming influence on the Runnin' Rebels, maintaining his composure under pressure.