Gator Noah's learning something out of the ark

From: www.theage.com.au
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By George Vecsey

JOAKIM Noah's favourite course last semester was called the 'Africa Diaspora'. The other day, he confessed that he did not earn a good grade — "the workload was unbelievable" — but, he added: "I felt that I learned a lot."

If there is one place where learning shows, it is in sport. The academic courses that Noah and Al Horford and Corey Brewer have taken by returning to college for a second year, rather than turn professional, have been hailed sentimentally as a reaffirmation of the good old days, when college players stayed around for four years. And maybe, in some modest way, it was.

That choice by the three academic musketeers also led directly to Florida's second consecutive national basketball championship this week, as the peerless Gators outplayed Ohio State 84-75 to win consecutive college titles.

After the game, coach Billy Donovan talked about the concept of "team", which was evident the way Noah, Horford and Brewer, all 205 centimetres or taller, could handle the ball. They were so smooth, so poised.

The experience and talent of Florida negated the power of Ohio State's 213-centimetre freshman, Greg Oden, who almost surely played his last collegiate game. Florida kept running bodies at Oden as he scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds.

But Oden is not pretending to be long for the academic world. He's here because of the rule that a year of college is compulsory before players turn professional. He would not give a glimmer of a hint about his plans after Monday's game.

Asked recently what he has enjoyed about college, Oden said: "Being away from home, enjoying freedom." But when people brought up the lavish praise for the Florida Three for coming back for their junior seasons, Oden did not sound impressed with the concept of staying in school to learn the business of basketball. "It really doesn't matter," he said.

He brought up Dwight Howard, all 211 centimetres of him, who went directly from South-West Atlanta Christian Academy to the Orlando Magic in 2004, under the more liberal policy of the time. "He's an NBA all-star in three years," Oden said. "He's making a living. That's what college is for."

Pragmatically, Oden is right about Howard not needing college to play in the NBA. He could have mentioned Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Amare Stoudemire and Jermaine O'Neal, all of them thriving without accumulating college credits. He may not be ready to be any of them, but if he wants to leave college, he helped advertise himself in this week's game.

By contrast, Noah is a virtual Holden Caulfield, albeit a Cameroonian-French-Swedish New Yorker with a flapping ponytail flapping (and a father — Yannick — who won a French Open). He rails against injustice and hypocrisy, grows misty-eyed when he mentions how his Swedish mother cried after Saturday night's semi-final victory, and he politely criticises the Bush Administration in the same sentence that he talks about his love for America.

Asked if he had any advice for Oden, Noah replied: "I would say, 'Follow your own heart'. "

After Monday, Oden's heart may have a clear signal. Enough of the mixed messages of pompous statements about scholar-athletes along with team gear being hawked without a cut going to the talent.

The three Florida players have said the extra year would have paid off even without this championship. Now they have two championships. So will it be college next year, or the NBA?