Memphis Tigers' Will Barton cleared for eligibility by NCAA

[La Bomba]

The NCAA on Friday cleared star University of Memphis freshman Will Barton for the 2010-11 basketball season, reversing its Aug. 4 decision to declare him academically ineligible.

 

"Obviously, we are very pleased with the decision from the NCAA that clears Will for competition this season," coach Josh Pastner said through an athletic department release. "We continued to provide additional documentation to the NCAA for its review, which is part of its routine process."

 

Had Barton not won his appeal, it's unlikely he would have ever put on a Memphis uniform. After initially being ruled an academic nonqualifier, the 6-foot-6 native of Baltimore said he would consider sitting out 2010-11 in order to gain eligibility for the following season.

 

Barton was ruled ineligible due to a new NCAA rule requiring players to complete high school in eight semesters. Barton graduated from Lake Clifton High in Baltimore last August, two months after the rest of his class. He said he did not know the rule applied in his case because he had already decided to take a postgraduate year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.

 

Memphis can't comment on Barton's transcript due to privacy laws, but it is believed his appeal was based on information from early in his high school career that the NCAA Eligibility Center missed in its initial ruling. That's actually fairly common in cases like Barton's, where more than 2,000 pages of documentation were submitted along with his transcript.

 

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/20/memphis-tigers-will-barton-cleared-eligibility-nca/

 

Amazing news. Without him we're a top 25 team, with him we're a top 15.

[Flash]

Yup, definitely big for you guys.