Will Barton answered his phone around 7 p.m. Friday night, with the caller ID indicating that Memphis coach Josh Pastner was on the line.
The former Lake Clifton shooting guard was expecting word from his coach on his appeal for NCAA eligibility. Barton was ruled ineligible by the NCAA earlier this month because it took him nine semesters, instead of eight, to graduate high school – violating a rule implemented after he had earned his diploma.
"He said, 'Are you ready to rock and roll?'" Barton recalled. "And I knew what he was talking about once he said that. … I was surprised. There was a lot going on in my head. Once I found out the good news [that I was eligible], I was real happy and excited. I was real amped up."
Barton was back at his old stomping grounds Saturday at The Dome in East Baltimore. While hundreds of high school basketball fans turned out to watch the all-star games for bmorehoops.com's sixth annual anniversary celebration, the 6-foot-6, 175-pound freshman was often the center of attention on the sidelines and in the stands. Barton said plenty of people from Baltimore offered words of encouragement throughout the NCAA appeal process, as did supporters of the Tigers."The Memphis fans, they really showed a lot of support. It's like my second home," Barton said. "They really like me down there. They treat me with a lot of respect. That's one reason why I chose Memphis. There's a lot of love down there. … We're like rock stars down there. I just want to win and bring home a national championship because the town deserves it."
Pastner told The Baltimore Sun on Sunday that Barton's situation "got a little bit overblown" by fans and the media. Barton's eligibility issue was taken up a bit earlier than expected by the NCAA Clearinghouse because the Tigers were about to go on a two-game trip to the Bahamas earlier this month. Normally, the Clearinghouse deals first with cases involving those playing fall sports such as football and volleyball.
"If we didn't go on the foreign trip and didn't have to tell him he couldn't go, we wouldn't have made a big deal about it," Pastner said. "We would have told him that we just needed to keep providing documentation. We would have told him, 'We're going to sit tight, this is a very routine situation.' I think it was a good wake-up call, not only him but a few of our guys had something taken away that they love -- not because of anything they did. But to go on a trip as an incoming freshman you have to be totally cleared by the Clearinghouse."
Several media reports speculated that Barton, the 2009 Baltimore Sun All-Metro Player of the Year, would consider playing in Europe or in the NBA Development League if the NCAA denied his appeal.
"I had plans, but we'll never know now. Just know I had plans," Barton said with a laugh.
Said Pastner: "I'm very excited [Barton will play as a freshman]. I'm very pleased, but here's the other thing -- I'm happy for him. He's a wonderful young man. He brings so much enthusiasm and so much energy and so much joy. Obviously he's a really good player, but he's a really good guy. He's done a really good job this summer academically."
Barton spent the past year at Brewster (N.H.) Academy, guiding the Bobcats to the 2010 National Prep Championship. He averaged 20.8 points during his post-grad year and was named the 2009-10 New England Preparatory School Athletic Conference Class A Player of the Year.
Considered the centerpiece of Memphis' consensus Top 3 national recruiting class for 2010, Barton was ranked Scout.com's No. 1 shooting guard and is expected to be one of Conference USA's top players this season. Despite all the attention, Barton said he remains focused on the Tigers' goals for the season.
"I'll take [the attention] and it just makes me work harder because I know there's going to be a bulls-eye on my back, being one of the top five freshmen in the country," Barton said. "A lot of people will be older and more experienced guys, and they don't want me coming in and doing what I do. But I just work hard and don't let the hype get to my head. I just play basketball. That's all I do."
Baltimore Sun reporter Don Markus contributed to this article.
Baltimore Sun photo of Will Barton by Kim Hairston / March 14, 2009