BRIEFLY : REPORT: GROUP TO BUY NUGGETS, AVALANCHE.

Byline: - Daily News Wire Services

A tentative deal has been reached to sell the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi Center to a group headed by a man whose wife is heir to the Wal-Mart Corp. fortune, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The teams and the $170 million arena, which is under construction, are owned by a subsidiary of Ascent Entertainment Group and worth at least $400 million, the Denver Post said, quoting unidentified NBA sources.

The group seeking the teams is headed by Bill Laurie, a former basketball player for Memphis State. He and his wife, Nancy Walton, own Crown Center Farms in Columbia, Mo., which raises quarter horses and Appaloosas.

COLLEGES: A federal appeals court has put on hold a judge's ruling that the NCAA said threatened to cause recruiting ``chaos'' among its Division I schools.

A three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia decided to allow the NCAA more time to develop new freshman eligibility requirements after a lower court struck down the use of minimum test scores to determine eligibility.

BOXING: A judge agreed to release former heavyweight champion Oliver McCall from the Martinsville, Va., city jail May 1 - almost six months early - if McCall remains in a drug rehabilitation program.

TENNIS: The first-round Fed Cup match between the U.S. and Croatia is being moved from Croatia to the United States because of NATO air strikes in Kosovo.

NHL: Philadelphia re-signed All-Star defenseman Eric Desjardins to a new four-year contract worth as much as $16 million, preventing him from becoming an unrestricted free agent after next season.

Carolina goaltender Arturs Irbe has signed a multi-year contract with the Hurricanes.

MEDIA: The Angels have reached an agreement with Spanish-language KVEA-TV to broadcast six games this season. It will be the first Hispanic L.A. station to show major-league baseball.

FOOTBALL: The Minnesota Vikings signed free-agent linebacker Corey Miller, whose contract was terminated by the New York Giants last month after he failed a physical.