BRIEFLY : BAFFERT, MCCARRON REACH COMPROMISE.

Byline: - Daily News Staff and Wire Services

The dispute over Santa Anita Derby jockey assignments was settled Wednesday with Gary Stevens scheduled to ride General Challenge in Saturday's $750,000 race.

Chris McCarron, who had been promised that mount by Bob Baffert, apparently will drop his breach-of-contract complaint against the trainer and ride High Wire Act for John Shirreffs.

To compensate McCarron, Baffert said he'd put the jockey on marginal Kentucky Derby prospect Straight Man and other good horses in the future. Without that settlement, the case would have been decided by the Santa Anita board of stewards.

Also, D. Wayne Lukas-trained Charismatic was added to the list of 3-year-olds expected to be entered today for the Santa Anita Derby. No jockey was named.

- Kevin Modesti

COLLEGES: Missouri basketball coach Norm Stewart will make an announcement today regarding his future amid speculation that he will retire after 32 seasons with the Tigers.

Stewart, 64, has 731 career wins while at Northern Iowa and Missouri, seventh most in NCAA history.

As expected, Maryland guard Steve Francis announced he would declare for the NBA draft. He is expected to be one of the top picks.

The NCAA said it could have changes ready in freshman eligibility standards by September that likely will put less weight on the standardized test scores that a federal judge ruled discriminatory.

SWIMMING: USC's Lenny Krayzelburg, from Studio City, won the men's 100-meter backstroke title at the National Swimming Championships in East Meadow, N.Y. Also, Alemany High's Maureen Farrell, 15, finished seventh in the women's 100 backstroke.

Swimming's governing body adopted new rules in an effort to make it harder for drug cheats to evade detection and punishment.

NHL: Detroit tentatively agreed to a three-year, $24 million contract with captain and nine-time All-Star Steve Yzerman.

NBA: The league suspended Portland guard Isaiah Rider one game for the second time in a week, this time for going into the stands during Tuesday night's loss at Golden State.

Denver rookie center Keon Clark will miss the next seven to 10 games with a partially collapsed left lung.

GOLF: Greg Norman withdrew from the BellSouth Classic beginning today in Duluth, Ga., suffering from the flu. The news comes one week before the Masters.

ALSO: European 200-meter track champion Doug Walker of Scotland was suspended for flunking a steroid test. He faces a two-year ban. . . . Three top Romanian male gymnasts apparently decided not to return to their native country following a gymnastics meet in Richmond, Va., last week, although no one seems to know where they might be.