By LARRY VAUGHT

ATLANTA — Mississippi sophomore Reginald Buckner is from Memphis and remembers the excitement current UK coach John Calipari generated when he was coaching at Memphis.

“He didn’t recruit me hard. I was hearing he was not really recruiting Memphis players that much,” Buckner said Wednesday. “But back in the day, Cal was the man in Memphis. Everybody in the whole city was loving him and loving Memphis basketball.”

Buckner says it is no surprise that Kentucky fans have embraced Calipari the way they have.

“With the players he has recruited and the great teams he’s had, they should love him. If you have a great team, the whole nation hops on your bandwagon and Kentucky fans love their basketball,” he said.

Buckner admits Calipari’s success at Memphis influenced his career even though Calipari did not recruit him.

“I seen the publicity his players were getting and I wanted the same thing, so I went hard and tried to play like them. It definitely motivated me to want to do more,” Buckner said.

And how happy was he when Ole Miss beat UK 71-69 Feb. 1?

“It did boost me to play against my home team’s former coach  in front of my home crowd now. No one likes losing, but I really enjoyed that win a bunch,” Buckner said.