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There are a lot of perks to being the little brother of an NBA player. To start with there are the shoes.

Marquis Teague, the younger brother of Hawks point guard Jeff Teague, said he doesn’t know exactly how many pairs of basketball sneakers he owns, but he grudgingly acknowledges it’s probably more than 50 pairs. A good many those came to him as what you might call “brand new hand-me-downs” from big brother.

“I’ve never had to worry about shoes,” Marquis says with a laugh.

There are some other advantages as well. Namely, his close relationship with Jeff has helped make Marquis (pronounced MAR-cuss) into one of the more talented young point guards in college basketball. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound freshman has started every game and played a team-high 32.1 minutes for No. 1-ranked Kentucky (30-1). The Wildcats carry an undefeated conference record (16-0) and heavy-favorite tag into this week’s SEC tournament in New Orleans.

“It’s been pretty good,” Teague said of his first season in college basketball. “We’re winning a lot of games. We’re playing pretty good. We’re coming together as a team right now and playing well. I’m having a lot of fun and we’re having a lot of success, so I can’t complain.”

“He always came along to play with me,” said Jeff, who is four years older than Marquis. “He was always as good as everybody. When he got in the seventh or eighth grade, every time I went home for the summer, I just brought him with me. He was never scared to play against guys older than him.”

Getting together is tougher these days. The brothers’ schedules rarely allow them to see each other in person. Jeff made it to a game during the NBA All-Star break and caught a couple of others when his itinerary allowed.

But they watch each other’s games on television and talk on the phone almost daily.

"That's my guy," said Jeff, who predicts little brother will surpass him as a basketball player. "I've always admired him and I guess he's always looked up to me. That's my brother. I love him.

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