The voice on the phone was unmistakable.
It came from a different time, and a different place.
A time when we were all much younger.
At least Rick Barnes was.
This is where it all really began for Barnes, the serious part anyway, this amazing journey of his, this journey that now has him coaching Tennessee, the team that has spent much of the year ranked No. 1 in the country.
It all seems so very far away from the spring of 1988, the year after Rick Pitino had found his coaching fame by somehow taking the undermanned Friars all way to the Final Four, and indirectly setting the stage for a young Rick Barnes to become a Big East coach.