THE HIGH SCHOOLS : ATHLETE OF THE WEEK : Notre Dame’s Jones Plays to a Dwindling Audience Despite Leadership Role

Brian Jones dribbles along wearing the navy blue and gold of Notre Dame High. The only thing missing is a sign around his neck:

Take me!

“I don’t know why,” Jones said, “but I guess I’ve been overlooked.”

Jones, a 6-foot-3 senior point guard, is referring to college scouts. Despite averaging a team-high 26.1 points a game and attracting the interest of some Division I colleges, Jones, one of the best players in the Valley area, has not had a scholarship offer. And the number of schools that are interested, Jones said, is dwindling.

“All I can do,” he said, “is keep playing.”

Jones has all but carried Notre Dame through the season and into the first round of the Southern Section 3-A Division playoffs. The Knights (16-8), San Fernando Valley League champions and winners of 12 in a row, play host to Western of Anaheim at 7:30 tonight.

Jones ranks third among Valley scoring leaders. He has scored 30 or more points in a game eight times, including a career-high 36 last week in the Knights’ 81-72 win over Bell-Jeff that clinched the league’s inaugural title.

“He’s had a couple of streaks when he just went off,” Notre Dame Coach Mick Cady said. “He’s carried us.”

During the nonleague season, Jones hauled some heavy cargo, averaging 25 points a game while teammates Ken Hicks and Errol Small were sidelined because of injuries.

“I’ve had a lot of pressure,” Jones said. “I expected myself to have a good year, but I didn’t expect to have to carry the load.”

Neither did he expect to be overlooked by colleges before the season began. While several of the area’s best players--Cleveland’s Adonis Jordan (Kansas) and Lucious Harris (Cal State Long Beach), Taft’s Dedan Thomas (Nevada Las Vegas) and El Camino Real’s Brent Lofton (Utah State), among others--signed during the preseason signing period, Jones received no offers.

“New Mexico State was on me,” Jones said. “It seemed like they were going to offer me a scholarship. But they pulled back. I probably wouldn’t have signed with them anyway. It didn’t interest me.”

Is Jones just a blue chip designed to slip through the Division I cracks?

“Gee, it seems pretty strange to me,” said Hicks, Jones’ backcourt partner who signed with Stanford before the season. “I can’t figure it out at all. He’s got the grades and he’s a good player.”

Said Cady: “I was talking to an assistant at UC Irvine and he told me Brian is one of the top 20 kids unsigned west of the Mississippi. He’s a hot prospect.”

Actually, Jones, who maintains a 3.1 grade-point average and has scored above the minimum 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test to satisfy college eligibility requirements, might be on the verge of signing. Baylor and Northwestern currently are studying film of Jones and appear interested, Cady said. Irvine, Portland and Texas El Paso also have maintained contact.

“It doesn’t worry me,” Jones said. “I think about it just a little.”

Jones admittedly is bothered more by the number of schools that no longer appear interested. Arizona, California, New Mexico State, Pepperdine and USC, Jones said, all have stopped calling.

“I really wanted to go to Pepperdine,” Jones said. “For a while they were interested, but they just backed off.

“I guess maybe I don’t fill some teams’ needs. I think I’m Division I, but if they don’t see it that way, that’s their problem. I figure my grades are pretty good, so if a school doesn’t recognize me, I can get in with my grades.”

And his numbers on the court won’t hurt. Jones, a three-year varsity player, is shooting 52.8% (219 of 415) from the field this season and 50.5% (44 of 87) from behind the three-point line. From the free-throw line, Jones is shooting 76.8% (146 of 190).

“Right now it’s just a little up in the air,” Cady said. “He’s just going to wait until the end of the season and then make a decision. No way will he go unsigned.”