Joakim Noah grew up watching his father, 1983 French Open champion Yannick, swat forehand and backhand winners on the pro tennis tour.

While his father used a racquet to inflict damage on an opponent, Joakim’s weapons of choice are his reach, timing and leaping ability to swat away shots.

The meteoric rise to prominence for Florida’s 6-11 sophomore this season was capped by a 16-point, nine-rebound, six-block performance in the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship game against UCLA April 3 in Indianapolis.

Noah’s stat-sheet-stuffing performance led the Gators to a 73-57 win to give the program its first national championship in basketball.

For his efforts, Noah was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. He set tourney records for the most blocks in a title game, the Final Four (10) and for all rounds (29).

Not bad for a player who mainly watched from the sidelines as a freshman.

“It’s indescribable,” Noah said. “This is the best I’ve ever felt in my life. You work so hard for these moments. They’re so worth it. We worked so hard as a team. I’m just so proud of my teammates, my coach and my family being here. It’s just — you’re like on a cloud. Not only does it feel good, it smells good, it tastes good.”

Florida was able to reach the pinnacle in college basketball thanks to its suffocating defense and balanced offense. In the title game, Lee Humphrey had 15 points, Al Horford 14 and Corey Brewer 11.

That made it difficult for UCLA, which had limited its two previous opponents to 45 points each, to focus on stopping one particular player.

Point guard Taurean Green didn’t shoot well — he was 1-for-9, including 0-of-7 from three-point range — but he controlled the tempo with his ball handling. He had a game-high eight assists, and Florida’s six turnovers were a season low.

Taking such care of the ball on the grandest stage in college basketball showed the Gators were poised despite a starting lineup that features four sophomores. Only the junior Humphrey is an upperclassman.

Gators coach Billy Donovan deployed the 6-8 Brewer on UCLA’s Arron Afflalo, which resulted in a scoreless first half for the Bruins’ leading scorer. The rest of his teammates ran into trouble, too, mostly in the form of Noah, who blocked several shots in the paint.

“Joakim knows he’s a monster,” Green told SI.com after the game.

Florida entered the season as a mystery team after roster attrition from a year ago. Even Noah was a question mark early.

“This kid plays two or three minutes a game last year, is he ready to step in for David Lee (who now plays for the New York Knicks)?” said Florida coach Billy Donovan. “He kept working and never used his mouth to defend himself. He just went out there and worked every single day. You could see him getting better and better and better. He’s the first guy in the gym, the last guy to leave.”

Florida finished the game with 21 assists, with the frontline of Noah, Horford and Brewer combining for 10.

The Gators, 33-6, also made UCLA play at a faster tempo than Bruins coach Ben Howland prefers.

“Florida did an outstanding job of dealing with our pressure,” said Howland, whose team finished 32-7. “They only had six turnovers for the game. That’s a very important stat because we were trying real hard. We came out, and I thought we got a little sped up by their pressure in terms of not shot-faking at the end of some plays. We got some shots blocked early in the game.”

Sophomore point guard Jordan Farmar led UCLA with 18 points. Most of his points came from creative shot-making.

“Florida left us relying on dribble penetration,” Farmar said. “Once we get in there, it either was a blocked shot — they changed a lot of shots. That’s just what (Noah and Horford) bring to the table.”

Florida quietly made a dominant run through the bracket. The only tournament victory not by double figures came in the Minneapolis regional semifinals where the Gators defeated Georgetown, 57-53.

Noah was joined on the all-tournament team by Brewer, Horford, Humphrey and Farmar.

Regional semifinals

Atlanta regional — LSU 62, Duke 54; Texas 74, West Virginia 71.

Oakland regional — Memphis 80, Bradley 64; UCLA 73, Gonzaga 71.

Washington D.C., regional — George Mason 63, Wichita St. 55; Connecticut 98, Washington 92 (ot).

Minneapolis regional — Villanova 60, Boston College 59 (ot); Florida 57, Georgetown 53.

Regional finals

Atlanta regional — LSU 70, Texas 60 (ot).

Oakland regional — UCLA 50, Memphis 45.

Washington D.C., regional — George Mason 86, Connecticut 84 (ot).

Minneapolis regional — Florida 75, Villanova 62.

Semifinals

Florida 73, George Mason 58

George Mason: Will Thomas 4-12, 2-5, 3, 10; Jai Lewis 5-13, 3-3, 11, 13; Tony Skinn 5-12, 2-3, 3, 13; Lamar Butler 4-7, 0-0, 4, 8; Folarin Campbell 3-5, 3-3, 1, 10; Jordan Carter 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Makan Konate 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Gabe Norwood 1-4, 0-0, 1, 2; Tim Burns 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Chris Fleming 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Sammy Hernandez 1-3, 0-0, 2, 2. Totals: 23-56, 10-14, 27 (2 team), 58.

Florida: Corey Brewer 6-11, 4-5, 6, 19; Joakim Noah 5-11, 2-2, 8, 12; Al Horford 2-7, 2-3, 13, 6; Taurean Green 3-9, 6-6, 3, 15; Lee Humphrey 6-12, 1-3, 3, 19; Adrian Moss 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0; Walter Hodge 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0; Chris Richard 1-1, 0-0, 3, 2; David Huertas 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Totals: 23-53, 15-19, 40 (4 team), 73.

Halftime: Florida 31, George Mason 26. Three-point field goals: George Mason 2-11 (Campbell 1-2, Skinn 1-4, Lewis 0-1, Butler 0-2, Norwood 0-2); Florida 12-25 (Humphrey 6-12, Brewer 3-6, Green 3-6, Noah 0-1). Officials: Dick Cartmell, Ted Valentine, Curtis Shaw.

UCLA 59, LSU 45

LSU: Glen Davis 5-17, 4-10, 7, 14; Tasmin Mitchell 5-12, 2-4, 6, 12; Tyrus Thomas 2-4, 1-1, 6, 5; Garrett Temple 0-5, 1-2, 1, 1; Darrel Mitchell 3-9, 2-3, 1, 8; Ben Voogd 0-1, 2-2, 0, 2; Magnum Rolle 1-1, 0-2, 8, 2; Darnell Lazare 0-1, 1-4, 3, 1. Totals: 16-50, 13-28, 33 (1 team), 45.

UCLA: Cedric Bozeman 2-6, 0-0, 5, 4; Luc Richard Mbah a Moute 5-9, 7-8, 9, 17; Ryan Hollins 2-2, 2-2, 3, 6; Jordan Farmar 4-9, 1-2, 4, 12; Arron Afflalo 3-11, 2-2, 6, 9; Darren Collison 3-6, 0-0, 4, 6; DeAndre Robinson 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Janou Rubin 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0, Ryan Wright 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Alfred Aboya 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0; Lorenzo Mata 1-2, 0-3, 8, 2; Michael Roll 1-4, 0-0, 0, 3; Michael Fey 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Totals: 25-51, 12-17, 42 (3 team), 59.

Halftime: UCLA 39, LSU 24. Three-point field goals: LSU 0-6 (Voogd 0-1, Temple 0-2, D. Mitchell 0-3); UCLA 5-18 (Farmar 3-6, Roll 1-4, Affalo 1-5, Bozeman 0-1, Mbah a Moute 0-1, Collison 0-1). Officials: Karl Hess, Ed Corbett, Ed Hightower.

Championship game

Florida 73, UCLA 57

Florida: Corey Brewer 4-12, 1-3, 7, 11; Joakim Noah 7-9, 2-2, 9, 16; Horford 5-8, 4-5, 7, 14; Taurean Green 1-9, 0-1, 4, 2; Lee Humphrey 4-8, 3-3, 1, 15; Adrian Moss 3-6, 3-4, 6, 9; Walter Hodge 0-3, 0-0, 1, 0; Chris Richard 2-3, 2-2, 0, 6. Totals: 26-58, 15-20, 35, 73.

UCLA: Cedric Bozeman 2-3, 5-6, 3, 9; Luc Richard Mbah a Moute 3-9, 0-0, 10, 6; Ryan Hollins 4-10, 2-2, 10, 10; Jordan Farmar 8-21, 1-2, 2, 18; Arron Afflalo 3-10, 2-2, 2, 10; Darren Collison 0-3, 0-0, 3, 0; Alfred Aboya 1-1, 0-2, 3, 2; Lorenzo Mata 1-4, 0-0, 5, 2; Michael Roll 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Totals: 22-61, 10-14, 40 (2 team), 57.

Halftime: Florida 36, UCLA 25. Three-point field goals: Florida 6-19 (Humphrey 4-8, Brewer 2-3, Hodge 0-1, Green 0-7); UCLA 3-17 (Afflalo 2-7, Farmar 1-8, Mbah a Moute 0-2). Officials: Jim Burr, John Cahill, Tony Greene.