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Noah Goes From Part-Time Player to Star:Posted By: Theodore Taylor By MARK LONG, AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS - Wearing headphones and hustling to get to his biological anthropology class, Joakim Noah noticed someone following him.He didn't say anything. He didn't look over his shoulder. He didn't even care that the woman tailed him across campus and then grabbed a nearby seat in class. He wondered what she was doing. Was she supposed to be there? Was she even a student? Was she stalking him? He figured it out 50 minutes later, when she approached him after the lecture. "She sat through the whole class and then asked me to sign a couple of T-shirts," Noah said. Noah has received a lot of extra attention lately. He has famous bloodlines, worldwide experiences and a unique combination of talent and charisma — all of which has helped transform the 6-foot-11 sophomore forward from part-time player to full-fledged star at Florida. Noah has been the catalyst for the team's run to the Final Four, where the Gators will play George Mason on Saturday night. He is one assist shy of leading Florida in every major category during the NCAA tournament. He has 69 points, 40 rebounds, 19 blocked shots, 14 assists and six steals in four games. Maybe more importantly, he brings an unparalleled level of enthusiasm to every game, every possession. He screams after blocks, pounds his chest after dunks and challenges teammates to match his passion and effervescence. "He is seizing every moment that he has on the court," point guard Taurean Green said. "He has been stepping up big for us. He's an emotional player. When he gets all hyped up, we just feed off of that and it gets us going." Noah's skill and spunk have made him one of the most popular athletes ever in Gainesville and maybe the most revered since Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel. "I can't imagine how it's going to be if we win this whole thing," Noah said. The Gators (31-6) are slightly favored to win it all, and Noah could be the key to making it happen. The son of tennis star Yannick Noah and former Miss Sweden Cecilia Rodhe, Noah was born in New York City a little less than two years after his father won the 1983 French Open. He moved to France at age 3 and spent the next 10 years there. But he rarely stopped traveling, developing ties to three continents, visiting more than a dozen countries and learning to speak four languages. His grandfather in Asa, a Swedish farm town where Rodhe grew up, taught him about the Vikings. His other grandfather, Zacharie Noah, often captivated him with tales of African tribesmen. Noah is an avid Bob Marley fan, a Rastafarian devotee and is fascinated with Arabic studies. He has avoided paparazzi in Paris, polished his game on the famed courts of Rucker Park in New York City and hiked the jungles of Maui. "I can't be put in a category," Noah said. "I love it. Basically that (allows) me to say the things that I want to say. I can do what I want to do. "That's just who I am. I'm lucky because people can't put me in one category. I'm in a lot of different places." Noah was an inconsistent reserve who averaged four minutes in the final eight games last season. But since February, he has averaged 16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds and prompted NBA scouts to start considering him a lottery pick. Coach Billy Donovan said he has never been around a player who has improved as much from one season to the next. "He's by far the biggest jump in terms of what he's doing and the impact he's made," Donovan said. "He's impacted winning." His influence has been far-reaching, too. Not only has the demand for his autograph grown, but Florida Gators T-shirts have become popular around the Champs-Elysees in Paris, and media outlets from England, Brazil, Spain, Belgium and Sweden have requested access to the cross-cultural Noah. "The one thing I've always respected is he doesn't want this," Donovan said. "He wants to spread it around. He doesn't view himself as a celebrity. Our guys respect that. One of the things you always worry about with teams and the attention they get is the devaluing of what other guys have done. "Jo is smart enough to understand that everyone on our basketball team has played a significant role." Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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