By LARRY VAUGHT

South Carolina point guard Bruce Ellington knows plenty about Kentucky’s top-ranked basketball team, but he also knows a lot about one new Kentucky football player — former high school teammate Kory Brown.

They played together for two years at Berkeley High School in Moncks Corner, S.C., before Brown headed to East Central Community College for two years before enrolling at Kentucky in January. Brown was ranked as the nation’s No. 3 junior college safety by one scouting service.

“If I decide to play football again, tell him please don’t try to lay me out when we play Kentucky,” said Ellington, who was also a receiver/kick returner on South Carolina’s football team last season when he had two touchdowns. “He loves contact all the time. On the field, he is mean. He don’t care if you were on his team, he was going to hit you and try to lay you out.”

“But just being around him makes you want to laugh all day. He is a great guy and a hard-working guy. He blew out his name and messed it up (in junior college), but the way he came back and fought through it and got a scholarship to Kentucky is great.”

Brown admitted his academic work was less than stellar, one reason he had to go to junior college, and Ellington also said he had some other difficult off-field issues to overcome in high school.

“He had to overcome a lot of things. He had players and teammates that every time we went somewhere, we would bring him along with us to encourage him. He’s a great guy. The things he went through and to be able to get in this spot is great for him. I’m proud of him,” Ellington, who has averaged 11 points per game since rejoining the South Carolina basketball team, said.

“I really think he can do real well in the SEC because he loves the contact and that is what SEC football is all about. It all comes down to hitting and I think he will do great. He’s a competitor and loves to hit, so I think he would try to lay me out without a doubt. But it would not be personal. He hits anybody. He’s a great guy, though. Kentucky fans and players will love him.”

Ellington played against Kentucky twice this season as well as twice last season and had no doubt Kentucky was the team to beat in the Southeastern Conference Tournament that started Thursday. He says one reason is that Kentucky coach John Calipari, much like South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier, is “driven” to win.

“They both love to win and make you love winning,” Ellington said. “I can tell that about Calipari because sometimes I will be running down the court, and I see him running beside me. He is such a competitor. I respect him in all aspects of what he does. He is a great coach. Every now and then he might say something to me during a game that just makes me laugh. I know he is a great person because of that.

“What he has done the last three years at Kentucky is remarkable. I respect him because he still stresses about playing the next game and trying to win it. I really respect the way he coaches. They are a great team and I think they could very well win the national championship.”

Ellington says Kentucky is good because of its all-around play.

“From their guards to their big men they are good, and that guy (Anthony) Davis is a truly great player,” Ellington said. “If you go in there, you know he is going to block that shot and that really helps their team. He is back there and guys are scared to go to the hole. With him and (Terrence) Jones and (Doron) Lamb and those other guys, they are just pretty good everywhere. There’s no weak point and that’s what makes them so great.”