BRIEFLY : BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR TARK, BULLDOGS.

Fresno State basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian says suspensions of three top players ``sets us back'' as the highly regarded Bulldogs prepare for the 1997-98 season.

Starting power forward Daymond Forney was suspended indefinitely Tuesday. A source told the Fresno Bee that Forney failed to meet requirements of the university's Student Athlete Assistance Program, which deals with a broad list of violations.

Other missing persons: forward Terrance Roberson, suspended earlier for failing to meet the program's requirements, is expected to become eligible within two weeks; incoming point guard Rafer Alston has been suspended and faces a misdemeanor criminal battery charge of punching and choking an ex-girlfriend outside the campus weight room on Sept. 11.

Fired Michigan basketball coach Steve Fisher said he has turned down an offer to become coach at South Alabama.

Fisher said he called the school Tuesday night to reject the offer, but school officials maintained they never had made an official offer to Fisher.

HOCKEY: Washington Capitals center Adam Oates could be reunited soon with former St. Louis Blues teammate Brett Hull, to the dismay of Canadian hockey fans. Oates, who was born in Weston, Ontario, has applied for U.S. citizenship, a move that could give him dual citizenship and make him eligible to play for the U.S. in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

The Dallas Stars placed right wing Jere Lehtinen on injured reserve with a separated left shoulder. Lehtinen, one of the NHL's top defensive forwards, was injured during Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs when he was checked against the boards.

FOOTBALL: Grambling's Eddie Robinson, college football's winningest coach, was released from a Ruston, La., hospital after being admitted early in the week for treatment of breathing difficulties.

``I can't stay away from football,'' said Robinson, 78, who underwent a battery of tests before his release.

Without facing the issue head on, the University of Mississippi might have banned use of the Confederate flag during sporting events by banning sticks and other pointed objects from athletic events. The new policy, effective Nov. 1, comes on the heels of a resolution by Ole Miss student government leaders urging students to keep the racially charged flags away from athletic events.

TENNIS: Boris Becker, playing perhaps his final major tournament in his native land, was knocked out of the Eurocard Open at Stuttgart, Germany, along with second-ranked Michael Chang and four other seeded players: Goran Ivanisevic, Greg Rusedski, Carlos Moya, Sergi Bruguera.

Top-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa struggled against a qualifier, Silvia Farina of Italy, but managed to advance to the quarterfinals of the Luxembourg Open.