“His height doesn’t matter. He’s got the whole package. Me and him sit in that same mold.”NATE ‘TINY’ ARCHIBALDON ANDRE BARRETT

When they’re not waking his family with midnight phone calls, or sending him up to 10 letters a day, the nation’s top college basketball coaches are roaming the country this summer to watch 5-foot-8 Andre Barrett play basketball.

“Some coaches tell me that they can’t sleep unless they speak to me,” Barrett, a point guard at Rice High in Harlem, said last week. “That just shows that they’re really interested in me and that they really care about my future.”

Or, more likely, their future.

Entering his senior season, Barrett, 17, is ranked by numerous recruiting services as one of the nation’s best point guards, along with 6-0 Omar Cook of Christ the King High in Queens.

While being drooled over by colleges, Barrett, who carries a 92 average and who scored 870 on his SAT, has narrowed his school list to Seton Hall, UCLA, Connecticut, Kentucky, North Carolina, St. John’s, Syracuse and Clemson.

However, Barrett, who lives in The Bronx, said he is leaning toward Seton Hall, mostly because of its coach, Tommy Amaker. In addition, Barrett said he would love to play with his friend Marcus Toney-el, who committed to the Pirates last month.

As for Amaker, Barrett said he feels a connection to the former Duke point guard.

“He’s a real good coach,” said Barrett, who averaged 13 points and 10 assists last season to lead Rice to its second consecutive CHSAA and state championships. “He’s down to earth. He really cares about me personally, not just basketball-wise.”

Also making a strong impression on Barrett was North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge and his assistant Phil Ford. Barrett met them in June in Chapel Hill while he was playing in a tournament with his club team, the Bronx Ravens.

“They showed me around the whole place, showing me pictures with Michael Jordan and several alumni,” said Barrett, who also has played in tournaments this summer in Providence and Albany, and has attended a few basketball camps. “So it was a big-time experience.”

An experience some never expected him to have. When Barrett’s talent began to be recognized as a sophomore, Rice coach Maurice Hicks said that certain college coaches were concerned with Barrett’s lack of height. They thought he would be too small to play for top Division I schools.

“But he’s really proven them wrong,” said Hicks, 35. “In the beginning of his sophomore season they said with his height he’d probably [play for] a mid-major [school]. But now he’s one of the most-recruited guards in the country.”

In his sixth season at Rice, Hicks said he always thought Barrett – a quiet-leader on the court who rarely shows emotion – would blossom into a star.

“He can shoot the ball,” Hicks said. “On top of that, he’s very fast and can see the floor so well. You don’t think about his height. You see his height on the layup line, but as soon the tipoff, it’s not a factor. It never was.”

Nor was it ever a factor for the 6-1 Nate “Tiny” Archibald, a former all-city point guard for Clinton High in The Bronx and a 14-year NBA star.

“They both can dominate a game,” Hicks said. “Andre has the ability to score, and he can get double figures in assists. Those were the kinds of things that made Tiny so great.”

Archibald, who lives in The Bronx and teaches physical education at District 5 in Harlem, was the speaker at Rice’s basketball team banquet after last season. Besides spending time talking with Barrett that night, Archibald said he has been impressed by watching him play.

“He makes things happen,” said Archibald, 50. “He carries himself well. He’s articulate, and that’s a mark of a good point guard. He could play for me. His height doesn’t matter. He’s got the whole package. Me and him sit in that same mold.”

Barrett, who shows his winning smile off the court, but never on it, said that always being one of the shortest players has inspired him to succeed.

“Freshman and sophomore year I was hearing, ‘Oh, you’re not going to do that well playing varsity. Kids are bigger than you,'” he said. “But all that did was push me to do my best. I had to prove myself to many people. I think I pretty much did a good job of that.”

That’s why the top college coaches are calling at midnight, sending him up to 10 letters a day and roaming the country to watch him play.