Basketball's Giant-Killing Jim Barton

It was the big time, in a sense. The national media came in droves for the Dartmouth-Miami University basketball game played in Florida last December, and they weren't there to see Dartmouth's team. In fact, the role of the Big Green was supposed to be similar to that of the Washington Generals, longtime foil of the Harlem Globetrotters.

The occasion was the long-awaited and often postponed college debut of Tito Horford. Horford is the 7-2 center from the Dominican Republic who was sheltered away in a Houston high school so he could eventually play for the University of Houston. When that arrangement didn't work out, Tito took his show to Louisiana State University for a week before deciding that Miami was the place he really wanted to be.

Tito didn't disappoint too many, scoring 17 points, including five thunderous slam dunks, ten rebounds, and eight assists. But he certainly wasn't the star of the show. That honor belonged to Dartmouth forward Jim Barton '89.

Playing in front of a national television audience on ESPN and the writers from Sports Illustrated, not to mention Mom and Dad, Barton poured in 40 points, including six three-pointers, to lead the Big Green to an 88-86 win.

"There's no doubt," said Barton. "That's the game I'll always remember, beating Miami and scoring 40 points. The team played really well; it was on national television. It was great for our program."

So far Barton himself has been great for the Dartmouth program. Last year he created some national attention for the Big Green by becoming only the second freshm an (Indiana's Steve Alford was the first) in history to lead the country in foul-shooting percentage. He hit 65 of 69 shots from the foul line for a .942 percentage the highest ever for a freshman in Division I and was named Rookie of the Year in the Ivy League.

In the Miami game, the Hurricanes were forced to foul Barton with seconds left and the Big Green in front, 86-83. "I didn't even watch him shoot," said Dartmouth coach Paul Cormier. "As soon as he was fouled, I was thinking about what defense to call."

Cormier doesn't worry about Barton anymore, but there was a time two years ago when that was practically all that was on his mind. "If we didn't get him we would have been in trouble," said Cormier of recruiting his star forward. "We threw all our eggs in one basket going after him. It was good and bad in the way we recruited him the bad being that if he didn't come here, we might lose a lot of good kids around the country."

The situation with Barton was unique. In the past, Dartmouth could expect to go against the other Ivies in recruiting basketball players. But Barton was being wooed by Memphis State, Virginia, Rice and Princeton. In high school, he was named to two All-America teams as a senior while leading his team to a 31-5 record with a 26.3 scoring average.

He played on a Memphis Junior Olympics team which won the national championship, and he set numerous school records, including most career points (2,107), and twice won most points in a game, 44 and 51. (His 40-point game against Miami is one off Dartmouth's record.)

"The first time I saw him was in September of his senior year," said Cormier. "It was just a practice and he was drilling the ball. He's one of the best shooters I've ever seen. I loved him."

Memphis State was pushing hard for the hometown boy, and Barton didn't have any strong ties with Dartmouth. His neighbor, Alan Nadel '64, had been the first to alert Dartmouth about his potential, contacting Reggie Minton when he was still coaching the Big Green.

Barton visited Princeton and didn't like it, narrowing his choice to Dartmouth and Memphis State. Persistence won out. "It's funny, one of the papers in Memphis was asking me why I chose Dartmouth," said Barton. "I said it was like moving from my family at home to my family up there. It seemed like Coach Faucher and Cormier lived here for six months.

"When it came time to decide," he continued, "my high school coach [Jerry Peters] and I sat down and weighed the pros and cons. Dartmouth had the academics and I had the chance to play right away. Memphis State said I would be used mostly as a game breaker."

Barton had a slow start at Dartmouth, and it wasn't until past midpoint in his freshman season that he adjusted to the college game. He led the team in scoring in eight of the final 13 games and finished with a 13.6 average, highest on the team. Barton also developed into a reliable rebounder and one of the better defensive players on the team. This year he has often been assigned to guard the opponent's high-scorer.

"It's tough to get adjusted, especially as a freshman," said Barton. "I had a problem with defense the most. The college and high school games are not even alike in that respect. I had to adjust everything at once. In high school I was in a program that was traditionally successful. I was used to being with a winner. There was a whole different mind set here. The second part of last season I was able to adjust. Now it's just likhigh school we expect to win every game."

Barton's foul shooting is the only thing that's off. "There's no excuse for missing a foul shot," said Barton, who shoots a jumper from the line. "It's a free shot, a 15footer. It's part of good shooting and that's a part of the game that comes naturally to me." He doesn't enjoy shooting slumps, such as those he has gone through in midseason the past two years. But he no longer lets it get him down. "Scoring doesn't matter ]as much this year," Barton said. "Last year I would say I had a good game by the number of points I had. This year it doesn't keep me from the rest of my game."

"We expect to win every game," saysforward Jim Barton, shown leaving theEarth for yet another jump shot.