JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- How do you explain a team losing three players to the NBA, yet getting better?
You can say it's coaching, and Florida coach Billy Donovan does a heck of a job, but his team's improvement from a year ago has to be about more than that.
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| Joakim Noah says this dunk on UWM's Adrian Tirgert was 'sexy.' (AP) |
One need only look to the lean, long, shaggy-haired post player to see the real reason why the Florida Gators are on their way to the Sweet 16, after their 82-60 trouncing of Wisconsin-Milwaukee gets them there for the first time since 2000.
Joakim Noah, the Gators' 6-11 sophomore forward, is the most improved player from one year to the next that I've ever seen.
A year ago, Noah saw three minutes of action in two NCAA Tournament games, buried on the bench, a freshman hearing friends back home in New York questioning his status.
"It's tough when all your friends are telling you to transfer," said Noah, the son of a former tennis great Yannick Noah. "It's always the same questions over and over again. You have doubts. But it made me hungrier."
From sitting and watching a year ago he's now a potential lottery pick in this year's draft, if he decides to come out.
Three minutes to lottery pick. And we thought Rudy was a good story.
"It's all about hard work," Noah said. "I'm not worried about what happened in the past. Those things I'll think about in the offseason. Right now, I'm living in the moment."
Noah had 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four blocks as Florida dominated the smaller Panthers. Corey Brewer led the Gators in scoring with 23 points, but this team is where it is because of Noah.
He plays with an infectious style, his yelling to the crowd after big plays and timeouts seemingly stirring his teammates.
Make no mistake about it: This is Noah's team.
If you would have said that a year ago, somebody would have laughed in your face.
"I don't know if it's improvement as much as it is his getting a chance," teammate Chris Richard said. "We knew he was a great player from the start. He just wasn't getting the time."
Richard said you could see the talent in practice, which begs the question why Noah was on the bench.
He was playing behind a good player, a senior in David Lee who was a first-round pick of the New York Knicks, but the talent display he's put on so far in two tournament games still makes that a bit mystifying.
Noah brushes aside talk of the past in one minute, but when pressed he admitted it hurt him not to play last year.
"That's what was so hard," Noah said. "When you're a competitor, you want to play. That might have been a selfish approach on my part. I was playing behind a first-round pick in David Lee, who had been through all the experiences. I was just a freshman at a big-time program. When you're a freshman at a big-time program, you usually are going to sit. That's tough. Your whole life, in middle school, in high school, you're the man in your neighborhood. In Hell's Kitchen, I'm the man."
Well, he's the man again, and maybe the hottest prospect in the country. The word out of Gainesville is NBA scouts are drooling over him. Noah said he isn't thinking at all about that now, but his teammates are.
"If he gets the opportunity this year, he has to take advantage of it," Richard said.
Why wouldn't he?
This tournament is his resume, his chance to show how good an NBA player he can be. Watching him against UWM, he put it all on display. He made passes like a man 6 inches shorter. He blocked shots in a way that brings up images of Marcus Camby, and he showed a nice array of moves near the basket.
One of the best was a spin move for a dunk that left defender Adrian Tirgert standing still as if he was stuck to the floor.
"That was sexy, right," Noah said.
A lot about his game is sexy. But he's tough, too.
He lost a tooth earlier this year in a game, but doesn't back down from anyone. He even took a shot in the mouth on one his bone-jarring dunks against UWM, but it really didn't faze him.
That could be because he spent much of the summer in the New York Rucker League playing against some of the greatest street players you will see. There it's no death, no foul.
Opposing coaches say he's unique, a tough player to guard because he's so tall, yet he possesses the skills of a guard.
His length, as well as that of the Gators -- a team that also features two other potential first-round frontcourt players in Brewer and 6-8 Al Horford -- proved to be too much for the smaller Panthers.
When UWM started to sag inside, the Gators started making 3-point shots, finishing 8-of-20.
The Gators will now move on to Minneapolis and a Sweet 16 game that will give Noah at least one more chance to showcase his lottery skills.
The way he's playing, it might be two, three or maybe even four more games.
At least now we know the reason why this team is better than it was a year ago.
It's the birth of a star.
