On the Road Again, but No Longer Homesick : Olympic Festival: Former Crenshaw High star Davis gets chance to play for Greenberg.

DENVER —  On the basketball blacktops, Tommie Davis has what they call “handles.”

It means Davis can dribble the ball like he’s got a grip on it.

Davis, a point guard from Crenshaw High, was at the U.S. Olympic Festival to get a new grip on his basketball career.

Not that it was going poorly. After leading Crenshaw to CIF and State titles in 1993, Davis accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Houston last year.

At Houston, he started two-thirds of the games as a freshman. But at 5 feet 10 inches, he was not going to bring back memories of Phi Slama Jama. Moreover, he was homesick.

“I felt like I made a mistake in going to Houston,” Davis said. “I mean I started, and I got good minutes, but it was my first time going away from home. Ever since I changed schools, everything has been great.”

The change was to Long Beach State, where he will be playing for his coach on the Festival West team, Seth Greenberg. Greenberg’s and Davis’ debut together wasn’t the best--the West lost the bronze-medal game--but Greenberg is happy to have a second chance with Davis.

“We were his runner-up in recruiting, so when he left Houston, he contacted us,” Greenberg said. “I’m excited, he is the first true point guard in the eight years I’ve been at Long Beach State.”

But because he is transferring from one Division I school to another, Davis will have to sit out a year. The Festival provided an opportunity to get some major experience that he will be missing this season.

“I just got lucky. I mean, I filled out all the forms and stuff, but I wasn’t on the team originally. I didn’t get a call until the Thursday [July 20] before we got here,” Davis said. “I packed in a hurry.”

The only reason Davis was invited was that UCLA freshman star Toby Bailey dropped out to attend summer school.

Although Greenberg would have loved to have had Bailey on his West team--let alone his 49er team--it was easy for him to see the silver lining with Davis here.

“LaDrell Whitehead was our only other point guard, so in Tommie we [had] a true leader who can create plays, can shoot, and can get people involved,” Greenberg said.

For his Long Beach team, the addition of Davis will ideally take some of the backcourt pressure off James Cotton.

“I can’t wait to play with him,” Davis said. “I think it’s been to my advantage to come here and play, and I think because of that, I will have a good career at Long Beach.”

Olympic Festival Notes

On the final day of competition, Mary Lou Retton presented softball player Christa Williams of Houston and boxer Fernando Vargas of Oxnard with $5,000 training grants, subject to the rules of their sport’s national governing bodies and the NCAA. Retton started giving the grants, named the “Mary Lou Retton Awards,” last year to two athletes at the Olympic Festival who have not been to an Olympics and need financial assistance. . . . From the It Will Be A Success Whether It’s A Success Or Not Dept.: U.S. Olympic officials said the target for ticket revenue has been lowered to $1.9 million. It was originally $2.4 million and then lowered to $2.1 million. USOC officials said final ticket-sale revenue numbers won’t be known until next week. . . . One unqualified success in sales was the second day of the track and field meet. Attendance exceeded estimates as more than 10,000 paid to see Carl Lewis attempt to break the world long jump record and Quincy Watts and Andrew Valmon square off in the 400.