Joakim Noah

Joakim Noah
College	Florida
Conference	SEC
Sport	Basketball
Position	Forward
Class	Junior
Career	2004 – present
Height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Weight	232 lb (105 kg)
Nationality	United States
Born	February 25, 1985 New York City
High School	Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Career Highlights
Awards
2006 Tournament MVP[1] 2006 AP All-SEC[2] 2007 AP All-American 2nd Team
Championships
2006 Div I Championship 2007 Div I Championship
Tournaments
2005 NCAA Tournament 2006 NCAA Tournament 2007 NCAA Tournament

Joakim Simon Noah (pronunciation: JO-a-kim;^[3] born February 25, 1985 in New York City) is a 6 ft. 11 in. American basketball player who played for the University of Florida in the SEC of the NCAA from 2004-2007.^[4] Noah was a member of the Gators' teams that won the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournaments.

Early life

Noah is of Cameroonian descent (his grand-father, Zacharie Noah was a cameroonian soccer player who led a professional career in France), and of French and Swedish descent and nationality, born to Yannick Noah, a former French professional tennis player and 1983 French Open Champion, and Cécilia Rodhe, Miss Sweden 1978.^[4]. He competed on basketball teams for several high schools, first at the United Nations International School (UNIS) in New York City, later transferring to Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York where he was coached by Bill McNally, and then to Lawrenceville, outside of Princeton, New Jersey. At UNIS he was coached by Alsonso Shockley and Harry Muniz. He reached the championships as the only sophomore on the team. After that he left to Lawrenceville to further his basketball career. At Lawrenceville, Noah averaged 24.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, leading his team to a New Jersey Prep 'A' state title.^[4]

College career

During his freshman year at Florida (2004-2005), he played sparingly, clocking in just 10.3 minutes per game, and averaged only 3.9 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest. During his team's two NCAA Tournament games, he played a total of 3 minutes.^[4]

During the summer of 2005, he was a key member of the runner-up H3 team at the Entertainers Basketball Classic at Rucker Park.^[4]

Noah made significant improvement in his sophomore year (2005-2006), leading his team in points (14.2 ppg) and blocks (2.4 bpg), while ranking second in rebounds (7.1 rpg) behind teammate Al Horford (7.6 rpg). Almost unknown at the beginning of the season, Noah's draft stock improved continually. By the end of the NCAA tournament he was considered by many to be the top college prospect in the country, and had he declared for the 2006 NBA Draft he very likely would have been taken first or second. However, Noah, along with teammates Al Horford and Corey Brewer announced at their national championship celebration that they would return for their junior seasons.^[4] Noah and the Gators would go on to repeat as champions.

2006 NCAA Tournament

Noah was named the Most Outstanding Player (MOP)^[1] of the NCAA Tournament's Minneapolis Regional after leading the Gators over top-seeded Villanova in the final game with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks. On April 3, 2006, Noah led the Gators to a 73-57 win over UCLA for the school's first NCAA Basketball Championship, and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. In the finale, he posted 16 points, 9 rebounds, and a championship game record 6 blocks.^[1]

Awards

• 2006 Associated Press (AP) All-SEC First Team^[2]
• Named an Honorable Mention All-American by AP.
• A local late night talk show, Late Night Gainesville with Zach, started a campaign in June 2006 to rename a major throughway on the campus of the University of Florida to "Joakim Noah Road."

Trivia

• Speaks French fluently.
• Although officially listed on the Gator roster at 6 ft 11 in it is rumored that he is 7 ft 0 in yet refuses to be listed as such as to "not look like a freak". The rumor is substantiated at press conferences where Billy Donovan has called him 7 ft 0 in on more than one occasion, and Woody Paige said on Around the Horn during the 2006 NCAA Tournament that he is 7 ft 0 in.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Florida... brings home NCAA title. NCAASports.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
2. ^ ^{a b} Newberry, Paul (2006-03-15). Tide's Steele selected to '06 All-SEC team. DecaturDaily.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
3. ^ Brady, Erik (2004-03-22). Star high school athlete becomes his own man. USA TODAY. Retrieved on 2007-02-27.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Joakim Noah Biography. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.

External links

• Official Florida bio
• USA Today profile (includes proper pronunciation of Joakim's name)
• The Alligator (UF campus newspaper article about Joakim Noah Road Campaign)
• Gainesville Sun Article
• Joakim Noah Road dot Com

Preceded by Sean May

NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player (men's) 2006

Succeeded by Corey Brewer

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joakim_Noah"

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