MINNEAPOLIS -- Enough already. No more questions about tennis.
I understand that Joakim Noah is the son of former French Open champion Yannick Noah, but anyone who wonders why he didn't take up Dad's game either hasn't seen him or hasn't seen him play basketball.
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| At 6-foot-11, Joakim Noah's got handles and can score, rebound, block shots, play defense and lead. (AP) |
All of that was on display Sunday when Noah pushed the Gators into the Final Four for the second time in seven seasons with a 75-62 defeat of a Villanova club that couldn't solve Yannick's son.
"He's a unique player," said Wildcats' coach Jay Wright. "I haven't seen anyone like him. I can't remember anyone who's that good offensively and defensively on the perimeter and in the post."
Forget that Noah led everyone in scoring with 21 points. Forget that he and teammate Al Horford each had a game-high 15 rebounds. Or that he had a game-high five blocks. Or a game-high 15 free throws. Or that he was named the regional MVP.
What mattered most here is what he did to his opponents. He intimidated them.
From the very beginning, anyone who drove the lane had to contend with Noah. And while the Wildcats expected that, what they didn't expect was how active he would be. If he switched off to stop, say, a driving Randy Foye, he was there to stop Will Sheridan after Foye dished off.
Sometimes Villanova tried to shoot past him, and the five blocks are evidence of how that went. More times than not, though, penetrating guards tried to shoot over or around him -- and that didn't work so well, either.
The stat sheet, please. Villanova was an atrocious 18-for-73 from the floor, its worst performance of the year, and that included a 3-of-16 performance in the paint in a decisive first half.
That's where you can find Noah, and that's where Villanova encountered him again and again. In fact, when the Wildcats tried to make a late-game surge, closing the gap to eight, it was Noah who responded with a block of Sheridan -- only to run the floor and follow with a decisive one-handed jam off a pass from Horford.
"He brings a ton of energy," said Foye, Villanova's only offense with 25 points. "He's always on the floor, always on the glass. He is the leader. He is always out there talking to their point guard, telling him he had to keep his head up. He is the floor general for them. He keeps everybody calm and settles the team down."
That's crucial for a Florida team that starts four sophomores and one junior. Yes, Florida's young, but it's remarkably poised -- something that couldn't escape the attention of at least one reporter who asked the Gators what they knew of Michigan's Fab Five and how they thought they compared to that team.
"I don't know anything about them," said Noah. "I just know that Chris (Webber) was on that team, and Jalen Rose. But the Gator Boys are hot right now, so no comparisons."
Fair enough. I mean, how can you compare anyone on that club to what Florida has in Noah? You can't. The guy barely played last year. Now, he's the hottest thing in Florida outside of South Beach, and soon George Mason will find out.
The problem with handling Noah is that there's little outside a serve-and-volley that he can't or won't try. It's not just that he's tall. It's that he can do so much. At one point Sunday, he dribbled the length of the floor, only to be fouled as he drove to the hoop. He scored nine of the team's 11 points during a critical second half run, too, but as I mentioned, scoring is only part of his game.
It's how he affects and changes the contest that matters most.
"Joakim is long enough that he could change a shot without fouling," said Wright. "You can tell when guys miss shots above the block -- when the ball hits above the block -- that means they are trying to get it over the shooter. He changed a lot of shots."
And Villanova had plenty of them -- like 19 more than its opponent. But it didn't have an answer for Noah. Heck, it didn't have an answer for Taurean Green. Or Al Horford. Or Lee Humphrey. Or Corey Brewer. Simply put, it couldn't shoot. Period. And Noah and his Florida teammates can take a curtain call.
They allowed little to happen inside and less to happen from beyond the 3-point arc. Villanova's a great 3-point shooting team, right? Not here it wasn't. The club that was 4-of-19 on 3s against Boston College and 4-of-23 against Florida.
"We defended the 3-point line, and that gave us an opportunity," said Gators' coach Billy Donovan.
But Florida always defends the 3-point line well. Or at least it has lately. Over its last nine games, all of them wins, the Gators' opponents are an underwhelming 26.5 percent when it comes to shooting 3s -- and Villanova wasn't even that good.
Give Florida credit. It's young. It's relentless. And it's dangerous.
"I think we can play a lot better and shoot a lot better," said Villanova's Wright, "but the other team had a lot to do with that. They're really good. And Joakim Noah was outstanding."
Get used to it. Everyone else has.
