NOTEBOOK : Just What Crenshaw Needs--More Hardwood Talent

Poor Crenshaw High.

The Cougars, 28-2 last season, were expected to struggle along this coming season with only four returning starters from their state Division I championship team.

How would anyone expect Coach Willie West to win with only 6-5 Kris Johnson, the City Player of the Year who signed with UCLA, highly touted 6-6 forward Tremaine Fowlkes, 6-6 shooting guard Reggie McFerren, and diminutive 6-8 center Leon Watson?

At best, this team would fight to stay awake in the competitive Southern Pacific Conference.

Suddenly, the Cougars will have to find room for newcomer point guard Tommie Davis. Although he’s just 5-8, Davis averages 15 points and six assists per game, and is one of the top 15 point guards in the country.

Davis, who is being recruited by Arizona, Boston College, Houston, Providence and USC, lost an appeal to return to Fremont after a suspension for disciplinary reasons in June. Davis will be eligible to play at Crenshaw.

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Lending a hand--Assisting Jordan as a volunteer coach in Wednesday’s football game against Locke was Willie Brown, a four-time Pro Bowl defensive back with the Oakland Raiders.

Brown, a member of the Jordan booster club, came out earlier in the week at the urging of interim coach Albert Wiley. Jordan has been searching for a coach since David Richardson resigned in July.

The Bulldogs forfeited their season opener against Belmont because the school got a late start in processing player eligibility paperwork and did not have time to prepare.

“This is a team without a coach, a program that needs equipment,” said Brown, 42, a 15-year NFL veteran who played on the Raiders’ 1977 Super Bowl team. “I just wanted to help out in any way I could.”

Jordan, which has been winless for the past two seasons and is 0-2 this year, lost 14-6, but Brown’s presence did not go unnoticed.

“He has only been with us for a couple days, but you can already see he’s making a difference,” Jordan receiver Paul Romero said.

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Recruiting update--Expected to be in attendance at the Loyola-Crenshaw football game Saturday night were basketball players Toby Bailey of Loyola, Johnson of Crenshaw and 6-8 forward Mark Madsen of Danville, Calif.

Bailey and Johnson have made unwritten commitments to play basketball for UCLA in 1994. Madsen, who has narrowed his decision to UCLA and Stanford, is expected to make his decision this week.

All three players made their official visits to UCLA Friday and was expected to attend the UCLA-Nebraska football game Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl.

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Off and running--The Cal State Los Angeles women’s cross-country team began its bid for its sixth appearance in seven seasons in the Division II championships in the Cal State Fullerton invitational Sept. 11.

Senior Marisol Cossio, an All-American at 5,000 and 10,000 meters in track, placed second in 18 minutes 10 seconds over the 5,000-meter course at Carbon Canyon Regional Park to help the Golden Eagles to the team title.

Maria Lopez and Marisol Pedraza were 10th and 12th in 18:53 and 18:58, respectively, for Cal State L.A., which had five runners among the top 30 to total 70 points.

Fresno State was second with 88 points, followed by UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State with 88 and 104.

Kim Ojeda, formerly of Cal State L.A. and competing for Nike Track West and Guadalupe Ambriz, a graduate of Bell Gardens High who is attending Point Loma, were sixth and seventh in 18:30 and 18:44. Heather Killeen of Cal State Fullerton won in 17:43.

Jose Padilla and Armando Gonzales paced the Cal State L.A. men to a seventh-place showing. The Roosevelt teammates placed 17th and 29th in the men’s five-mile race.