By LARRY VAUGHT

Kentucky native Darrin Horn says he doesn’t know new Kentucky coach John Calipari well, but the South Carolina coach knows plenty about him.

“I just know him from being in the business and being around and knowing some people that know him,”  Horn said. “I was not surprised at all he came to Kentucky. Everybody keeps asking if it was good for him to come to Kentucky, but the important thing is for our league to be good and programs in our league to be good.

“Obviously when you go back over a 30-year period there is no question Kentucky has been the best team in our league. But we are at the point now where we need everybody to be good. The one thing you have to say now about coach Calipari is that past performance is the best indicator of future performance in basketball, academics, business or whatever and he has proven that he can build programs and win. I think it just happens to be the program that has been the best over the last 50 years or more and it looks like they could be really good again and that helps all of us.”

Of course, Kentucky fans still remember the way Horn brought his first South Carolina team into Rupp Arena last year and won 78-77 and then later beat UK 77-59 at home.

“You can go anywhere and have somebody talk about that win in Rupp Arena. You can walk around Columbia and somebody will mention how cool that was. It still comes up some, but it does not have to be family or friends or just Kentucky people. It’s still big in South Carolina, too,” Horn said .

However, he won’t deny how thrilled family and friends in Kentucky were with the Gamecocks’ victory at historic Rupp Arena.

“I think they were happy because when you grow up there, you know how important that program is to everybody there,” he said. “It is like even at Western Kentucky that it was cool I was head coach and people locally were excited. But then I got to South Carolina and was in the SEC and it was like I was on a playing level with Kentucky.

“It is just that mentality there and what makes it such a great basketball program. When you beat them at their place that is a feeling for people locally that know you that is something special. It’s one of those moments you simply cherish.”