CHICAGO -- The NCAA agreed on Tuesday to help athletes with head injuries in a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit that college sports governing body touted as a major step forward but that critics say doesnt go nearly far enough. Melvin Gordon III College Jersey . The deal, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, calls for the NCAA to toughen return-to-play rules for players who receive head blows and create a $70 million fund to pay for thousands of current and former athletes to undergo testing to determine whether they suffered brain trauma while playing football and other contact sports. A lead attorney for the plaintiffs who spearheaded nearly a year of talks culminating in the agreement said the provisions would ultimately improve players safety and leave open the possibility of damage payments later. "I wouldnt say these changes solve the safety problems, but they do reduce the risks," Chicago attorney Joseph Siprut said. "Its changed college sports forever." Others strongly disagreed. Unlike a proposed settlement in a similar lawsuit against the NFL, this deal does not set aside any money to pay players who suffered brain trauma. Instead, athletes can sue individually for damages; the NCAA-funded tests that would gauge the extent of neurological injuries could establish grounds for doing just that. One plaintiffs attorney not involved in the negotiations called it a "terrible deal" that lets the NCAA off the hook far too easily. Jay Edelson called the agreement "window dressing," saying the NCAA will be able to settle one-off suits for several thousand each. He estimated that single, class-action damages settlement could have been worth $2 billion to players. "Instead," he said, "its worthless." The settlement is primarily directed at men and women who participated in basketball, football, ice hockey, soccer, wrestling, field hockey and lacrosse. There is no cutoff date for when athletes must have played a designated sport at one of the more than 1,000 NCAA member schools to qualify for the medical exams. That means all athletes currently playing and those who participated decades ago could undergo the tests and potentially follow up with damage claims. Tuesdays filing serves as notice to the judge overseeing the case that the parties struck a deal. At a status hearing later in the day, U.S. District Judge John Lee said he wanted more time to consider whether to give the deal preliminary approval. If he does, affected athletes will have a chance to weigh in before Lee decides about granting a final OK. The NCAA, which admits no wrongdoing in the settlement and has denied understating the dangers of concussions, hailed the deal. "This agreements proactive measures will ensure student-athletes have access to high quality medical care by physicians with experience in the diagnosis, treatment and management of concussions," NCAAs chief medical officer Brian Hainline said. Siprut added that stricter rules and oversight should help ensure the viability of football by allaying fears of parents now inclined to not let their kids play. "Absent these kinds of changes, the sport will die," he said. To keep the NCAA from having to hold unwieldy talks with multiple plaintiffs, 10 lawsuits filed nationwide were consolidated into the one case in Chicago, where the first lawsuit was filed in 2011. The lead plaintiff is Adrian Arrington, a former safety at Eastern Illinois. He said he endured five concussions while playing, some so severe he has said he couldnt recognize his parents afterward. Another named plaintiff is former Central Arkansas wide receiver Derek K. Owens. His symptoms became so severe he dropped out of school in 2011, telling his mother: "I feel like a 22-year-old with Alzheimers." Among other settlement terms, all athletes will take baseline neurological tests to start each year to help doctors determine the severity of any concussion during the season; concussion education will be mandated for coaches and athletes; and a new, independent Medical Science Committee will oversee the medical testing. Robert Cantu, a Boston-based clinical professor of neurosurgery and a longtime critic of the NCAA, said the deal is a huge shift by the organization. "Itll make collision sports much safer," said Cantu, who was one of the plaintiffs experts. But former UCLA linebacker Ramogi Huma said its all for show. "It takes some of the things many of us have been advocating for and pretends to address it," Huma, president of the College Athletes Players Association, said. Plaintiffs filings say the number of athletes who may require testing to learn if they suffered long-term damage runs into the tens of thousands. They cite NCAA figures that from 2004 to 2009 alone, 29,225 athletes suffered concussions. Internal emails unsealed in the lawsuit illustrate how pressure mounted on the NCAA over the issue. In a Feb. 23, 2010, email, the NCAAs director of government relations, Abe Frank, wondered whether debates about new safeguards for young children playing contact sports would crank up the pressure on the NCAA to do more. David Klossner, NCAAs then-director of health and safety, responded bluntly a few hours later: "Well since we dont currently require anything all steps are higher than ours." Later that year, the NCAA established a head-injury policy that states that athletes should be kept from play for at least a day after a concussion. It also requires each school to have a concussion management plan on hand. But plaintiffs blamed a tendency of some teams to hurry concussed players back into games, in part, on the NCAAs lax enforcement of the policy. In a 2012 deposition, asked if any schools had been disciplined for having subpar concussion plans, Klossner said, "Not to my knowledge." Cheap Wisconsin Gear . There are practical ideas, like this Chewbaca inspired Star Wars jerseys. Star Wars themed jerseys for the Toledo Mud Hens. Wisconsin Jerseys From China . -- Jack Del Rio only wanted to talk about the Cowboys, not the Trojans. http://www.cheapwisconsinjerseys.com/ .com) - The Vancouver Canucks hope an upcoming stretch of home games will be enough to get the club into the postseason.New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Domantas Sabonis had 14 points and 10 rebounds and 10th-ranked Gonzaga held off St. Johns down the stretch to record a 73-66 victory and capture the NIT Season Tip-Off. Gary Bell Jr. added 13 points and Byron Wesley scored 12 to help the Bulldogs (6-0) remain undefeated with a hard-earned result in front of a pro-St. Johns crowd on the Red Storms home court of Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm whittled a 15-point second-half deficit down to three in the final minute and had a chance to tie it late. However, DAngelo Harrison was called for an offensive foul with Gonzaga clinging to a 69-66 lead with 15 seconds to play. Phil Greene IV sparked the Red Storms near-comeback by netting 13 of his 20 points after halftime. Rysheed Jordan finished with 18 points and Harrison had 15 for St. Johns (4-1). Gonzaga appeared well on its way to a sixth straight double-digit triumph to open the season after building a 56-41 lead with nine minutes left. The Bulldogs then got sloppy with the ball and missed several foul shots, however, and St. Johns capitalized to get back in it. The Red Storm put together an 11-2 run, during which Gonzaga had three giveaways and went 0-of-3 from the line, to pull within 58-52 with less than 5 1/2 minutes to play. The margin was slimmer when Greene canned a pair of 3- pointers around a Wesley layup, with the second cutting the lead to 69-66 with a minute remaining. Gonzaga came up empty on its ensuing trip down the court, but Kyle Dranginis denied Jordans baseline drive and the ball went out of bounds to the Bulldogs with 26.9 seconds showing. However, Greene pressured the inbounds pass, which landed off the right knee of Beell to give St. Throwback Wisconsin Jerseys. . Johns possession with an opportunity to tie. Harrison dribbled into the lane but was whistled for pushing off, though, and Kevin Pangos hit two free throws on the other end to seal the outcome for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs committed 17 turnovers and were plagued by miscues early on, giving the ball away four times in the games first 3 1/2 minutes. They trailed 20-19 with 7:24 remaining in the opening half after 3-pointers by Jordan and Myles Stewart sparked an 8-2 Red Storm run. Gonzaga then asserted control via an 8-0 spurt that Sabonis capped with a run- out slam off a Pangos feed, and never trailed thereafter. The Bulldogs held a 33-26 lead late in the first half before Jordan capped a 13-point period with a layup that pulled St. Johns within five at the break. Greenes basket just over four minutes into the second half had the Red Storm down just 40-37, but St. Johns didnt hit another field goal for nearly six minutes as Gonzaga embarked on a 13-1 tear. Bell had six points during the surge, which Kyle Wiltjer capped with a layup to stake Gonzaga to a 53-38 advantage midway through the final period. Game Notes Gonzaga is off to its third 6-0 start under head coach Mark Few, having previously done so in 2008-09 and 2012-13 ... Pangos tallied 11 points and nine assists but had three turnovers after committing just one over the Bulldogs first five games ... St. Johns forward Chris Obekpa had just one point in 22 minutes before fouling out with 6:41 left ... Gonzaga has won its last four meetings with the Red Storm, the most recent occurring in the Second Round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. 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