The Sweet 16: Baltimore's best college basketball players

Barton's "OK season" amounted to averages of 12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He played in all 35 games, starting 25, and was the second-leading freshman scorer in Conference USA. He was was selected to the All-Conference USA third team and the All-Freshman team.

"Let's keep in mind that he had a good year," said Memphis coach Josh Pastner. "He was our leading scorer, our second-leading rebounder, leading assist man. He had a real good freshman year. That's why he's a preseason Wooden Award [candidate]."

Barton is getting accustomed to being a nationally recognized player. CBSSports.com ranked him the No. 32 player in the country, and he's still considered a potential NBA prospect. But talk of jumping to the league as soon as possible has ceased. Barton's priorities, it seems, have been altered a bit.

"Towards the end of [last] season, that's when I started to say, 'For us to win basketball games and perform at a high level, I have to put all my thoughts into my team and my coaches.' If I'm not winning and producing at the college level, I'll never have to worry about the NBA. … I'm just focusing on what I have to do — dominating college basketball."

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