Columbia, Mo. ? The NCAA and the University of Missouri were able to “lay some issues to rest” in their investigation into the school’s men’s basketball program, but some other matters remain unresolved, the professor leading university’s probe said.

By the end of April, the NCAA and Missouri may have “a very, very short list” of outstanding issues in the investigation, said Michael Devaney, an electrical engineering professor at the Columbia campus.

Devaney declined to specify which issues he felt had been resolved and which were outstanding.

Former MU guard Ricky Clemons has said he and other players were paid, and Clemons’ former girlfriend has said he received improper academic help. Clemons’ coaches have said they had no knowledge of improper academic help and also have denied giving players money.

“Let me say that the list is shorter and that we made great progress in solidifying the items of concern and laying to rest other items,” Devaney said.

Devaney also said he couldn’t say much more about the investigation. But Missouri officials have said they are cooperating fully with the NCAA, which declined comment, as it routinely does while investigations are ongoing.

Devaney was named last year by university president Elson Floyd to lead the internal investigation, which Floyd ordered when the academic allegations surfaced. Floyd previously said he felt better about the academic allegations, without being specific, after a meeting with NCAA officials.

“We were able to identify what we felt were some follow-up items that would enable us to determine the disposition of things that are still outstanding,” Devaney said.

He added the meeting included “reviewing a number of issues, examining the evidence, hearing one another’s perspective on the evidence.”

Missouri’s headaches with Clemons erupted publicly in January 2003 when he was arrested for choking and detaining former girlfriend Jessica Bunge at his Columbia apartment.

Clemons initially pleaded innocent and was suspended for a single game, but after the season ended, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and eventually served a 60-day jail sentence. Clemons was kicked off the team and his scholarship was revoked.

He renewed his claims of receiving money in a television interview taped in February.

Coach Quin Snyder has admitted giving Clemons two pairs of shoes and one pair of pants he was planning to discard, which Missouri has said probably violated NCAA rules.

Bunge has said Clemons received far more clothing from Snyder.

Devaney is a former president of the faculty council on the Columbia campus.