Ellison Stands Out Despite Low Profile : Talented Freshman Pervis Ellison Blends In at Louisville

Pervis Ellison never was a secret, exactly. But he wasn’t a national campaign, either.

Even now, with his team in the Final Four, the University of Louisville’s 18-year-old starting center is going low profile all the way. Well, as much as is possible for someone whose profile stands 6 feet 9 inches.

Let everyone else debate whether he should be compared to Sam Perkins or Bill Walton or Keith Wilkes. It’s not going to affect Ellison one way or the other.

In fact, his cool confidence and shy approach remind a lot of Louisville fans of Rodney McCray as a freshman center. And Rodney, as a freshman in 1980, helped Louisville to the national title.

As the younger brother of Scooter McCray, though, Rodney’s arrival in Louisville was much anticipated. Ellison was just kind of there one day.

Ellison was an All-American by the time he got out of high school in Savannah, Ga., but his coach, Ron Love, had refused to let the media and the high-powered recruiting experts turn him into a folk hero. His real coming-out party had occurred the summer before his senior season, at the B/C All-Star Camp in Milledgeville, Ga.

Wade Houston, a University of Louisville assistant coach, saw him there and thought he was worth a second look. Houston went back to see Ellison’s season opener that fall and saw 44 points, 22 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.

Houston said: “I came back home and told Denny (Crum), ‘You’re not going to believe the kid I saw last night.’ ”

Louisville had to compete with Georgia Tech, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia in the recruiting wars to get him, but it was worth the trouble.

Remember what he did in the West Regional title game last week to get the Cardinals here? That was his blocked shot, deflected out to Jeff Hall for the fast break that turned the game around in the final minutes.

He had another blocked shot before the game was over to go with his 15 points and 10 rebounds.

He averaged 12.8 points and 7.9 rebounds for Louisville during the regular season, but those numbers are up to 14.3 and 8.3 in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament.

Not bad at all for a 6-9 freshman who became a starter only after 6-11 Barry Sumpter became academically ineligible.

Crum said that Ellison is like McCary in that he plays hard and has some of those things you can’t teach--quickness, reaction, anticipation and intensity.

Crum always mentions consistency, too, when he talks about Ellison, and that’s quite a credit for a freshman.

And just a few days ago, Crum added a new comparison, telling Rick Bozich of the Louisville Times: “Who he really reminds me of is (former UCLA forward) Keith Wilkes. Only Pervis is bigger.

“I mean he’s like silk out there. He does the right things. He’s in the right place. He has the feathery touch. He’s gangly, thin. He’s much like Keith Wilkes was, only Keith Wilkes was 6-7.”

Ellison is like Perkins in his long, thin look; like Walton in his shot selection and outlet pass; like McCray in his work ethic and attitude.

Ellison is equally at home in the high or the low post. He’s not real big--195 pounds--and he probably should be a forward, but Louisville needs a center right now and he’s more than willing to play tough inside.

He wouldn’t compare himself to such players, but he said that he admires Buck Williams and Moses Malone because those are the guys who “do the dirty work.”

Add up all those bits and pieces of comparisons, all those qualities that are the best of other stars, and the composite is the unique new talent that is Pervis Anthony Ellison III.

The fourth and youngest child of Pervis Ellison II, a sugar factory worker, and Emily, the head cook in one of Savannah’s best restaurants, will no doubt be a standard by which others are judged a few years from now.

NBA scouts are already projecting him as a first-round pick.

The word is out.