On College Basketball | Joakim Noah and Greg Oden: Opposites attracting attention

ATLANTA - Ohio State's Greg Oden knows he can't act like Florida's Joakim Noah on a basketball court. Not in tonight's NCAA title game at the Georgia Dome, not ever.

"I think my mom wouldn't like me acting like that," Oden said yesterday. "You don't need to go out there and talk."

Joakim Noah isn't going to try to act like Greg Oden.

"I feel like I grew up around rock 'n' roll people," said the son of a French tennis great and a Swedish model. "My mom is definitely rock 'n' roll and my dad is definitely rock 'n' roll. Trust me."

Noah, a junior, came back to school this season even though some people were telling him he could have been the No. 1 NBA draft choice. Oden, a freshman, would have surely gone No. 1 if the NBA's draft rules hadn't changed and he had chosen to turn professional right out of high school.

Tonight, Noah could be part of just the second men's team in 33 years to repeat as national champion (Duke in 1991-92 was the last). If Ohio State pulls off an upset, Oden would be the centerpiece of the first Ohio State team to win it in 47 years.

Florida began the season on top of the national rankings. Ohio State finished that way.

At this moment, Noah isn't looking to find more common ground.

"I mean, he's the enemy right now," Noah said before professing his respect, even after being told about Oden's own words.

"He's gone through so much early," Noah said. "He hadn't played a college basketball game and you guys were comparing him to the greats of the game, and he is. I respect so much for what he's gone through."

Some common ground: Oden and Noah both talked yesterday about Florida's Al Horford being such a tough guy to handle inside.

"There's no question who's our go-to post player," Noah said, speaking about why he tends to get the attention instead of Horford. "He's quiet. I'm not."

Oden used a great verb when he described Horford's improvement since last year.

"I thought he was beasting last year," Oden said.

Listening to Noah, you get the feeling that he looked back at his own dominating performance in last year's NCAA tournament - he was an easy choice for outstanding player of the Final Four - and wondered where it got him.

"Everybody put expectations on me that were so crazy," Noah said yesterday. "If I wasn't national player of the year and if we didn't win a national title, it was like, 'What was Noah thinking coming back to school?' "

Noah got back to campus and heard people thanking him for winning a national title. For all his outgoing talk, Noah didn't want that. He did know that the Gators succeed because they've got so many working parts. This year, he seems to relish Horford's taking on a bigger role.

Maybe Oden could relate. As his college recruiting process got hot and heavy, Oden suggested to his buddy and point guard Mike Conley Jr. that maybe Conley should head for another college - that it might be better for Conley if he got out of Oden's shadow.

Oden knew this separation wouldn't be the best thing for himself. He remembered his life before Conley came into it.

"I couldn't make a layup," Oden said.

In the end, Conley decided that he could continue to live within that shadow - and Oden was wrong. Conley has made it work for himself.

"He's saying, 'Forget you, I'm going to step up,' " Oden said.

But Oden also understands the future envisioned for him, and he doesn't run from it. He watches tapes of Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan, and studies another one that includes the post moves of Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin McHale and Bill Russell.

Asked specifically about Russell, who was honored at this Final Four, Oden said it would be an honor to meet him.

"He won by any means necessary," Oden said of Russell's place in history.

Oden doesn't try to say that going to college is the right path just because the NBA's rules changed and the decision was taken out of his hands.

"Does it really matter?" Oden said of Dwight Howard's development without going to college. "He's an NBA all-star this year."

Oden talked of seeing Shaquille O'Neal when Shaq first got to LSU, how he wasn't as big as he became in the NBA. Oden said that after his wrist surgery last year, he hasn't been able to lift as much as he would like.

"I would love to mature and be as big as him," Oden said.

In yesterday's press session, Oden's let out his dry sense of humor. His favorite class this spring? "Biology 101 - that's a fun class. There are about 600 in our lecture."

Why does he like it?

"600 people - 400 girls," Oden said.

Oden's face lit up when it was suggested that for all his foul trouble in this tournament, he would have had an NCAA highlight for the ages if he had pulled off that flying dunk Saturday night against Georgetown.

"That's just it," Oden said. "Othello [Hunter, a Buckeyes teammate] said to me, 'That would be like one of the all-time greatest dunks.' I'm so mad that I missed it."

Noah said he won't be intimidated by Oden tonight.

"It's basketball," Noah said. "I'm not scared of basketball. . . . I'm on edge when he's around the basket, yeah. But we're not scared."

Noah thought he was outspoken until - stuck in his hotel room before Saturday's game against UCLA - he watched an HBO special this weekend about UCLA basketball and saw how freely Walton had expressed his anti-Vietnam War opinions.

"It was really interesting to see," Noah said. "That got me ready to go."

No need for any outside motivation tonight, Noah said.

"Cutting down nets. It's better than anything. Anything," Noah said, later adding, "If you win, everybody's going to eat. That's our motto."

How they Match Up

   Fla.   OSU   

Record   34-5   35-3

Avg. Pts.   79.7   74.5

Opp. Avg. Pts.   62.3   61.4

Margin   17.4   13.1

FG Pct.   .527   .473

Opp. FG Pct.   .406   .402

3-Pt. FG Pct.   .405   .367

Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.   .289   .331

3-Pt. FG-Game   7.4   7.4

Opp. 3-Pt. FG-Game   5.2   7.1

FT Pct.   .685   .704

Rebound Margin   8.5   3.2

TO Diff.   -1.2   2.1

Avg Steals   6.7   6.7

Avg Blocks   4.9   5.6