MORE THAN FUN NO LONGER UNDERDOGS, GATORS ALL BUSINESS.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE 

Staff Writer

Fun. That's why they came back, right?

Last year, Florida's chest-bumping, fist-pumping Gator Boys had so much fun on their surprise run through the NCAA Tournament they just had to pull a Matt Leinart and give the big wheel one more whirl this year.

And for the most part, it has been a lot of fun again. But no, it hasn't been the same as last year.

Let's start with Joakim Noah, the ponytailed one, who went from bench-warmer to ultimate late-night talk show guest in the span of a month last year. It took all of one summer for him to realize how different this year would be.

A few weeks after Noah and fellow Gator Boys Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green announced they would put potential NBA riches on hold to come back to Gainesville in an attempt to make their team the first since Duke in 1991-92 to win back-to-back NCAA titles, Noah ran into a Nike representative who was designing new uniforms for the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

"Why are you talking about this?" Noah recalled telling the rep. "We haven't even made the NCAA Tournament yet."

Then there was the grass-roots campaign to rename a road on campus Joakim Noah Road.

"I think too many things are named after millionaires, after people that are dead," campaign organizer Zach Huddleston said in an interview with the Gainesville Sun. "Who doesn't love Joakim Noah? He's a million feet tall, and his hair is all goofy."

Not exactly a quiet offseason.

Fortunately, Florida's sports information department saw all this coming.

"I just told the guys, give me two weeks in September to do all the national interviews, and then you're off the hook," men's basketball sports information director Fred Demarest said. "So we had everyone in -- Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, CBS, everyone -- and got it all done in September so the guys could get it out of the way and start focusing on basketball afterward.

"It was important to us to remember that they came back for a reason, and it wasn't just to sit there and be a marketing machine."

By far, though, the biggest change this year for the Gator Boys has been the big fat target on their backs, which seems to grow larger every time Noah busts out some new dance moves after a win or Horford pounds his chest after a block.

The same swagger and antics that were charming and refreshing on an upstart underachiever last year came off as arrogant and annoying on a frontrunner this year.

Then came a late-season swoon after Florida clinched the Southeastern Conference regular-season title and some apathetic play reminiscent of the turn-it-on-in-March Lakers of the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant era, and a whole new fan base began to emerge: Gator Haters.

"Last year, our motto was PHD -- poor, hungry and driven," Noah said. "This year, it's harder because you've got to keep that PHD -- poor, hungry and driven -- but there's filet mignon everywhere around you and salami and all these great foods. It's hard, but at the end of the day, it's just extra focus and extra sacrifice."

Translation (because what the heck does salami have to do with it?): The Gator Boys had to find a way to win when they weren't sneaking up on anyone anymore.

"It was a lot harder this year, just because night in, night out we get everybody's best shot," Brewer said.

Playing the heavy isn't always fun, though.

"Growing up, I used to pull for the lower seeds to win just because I liked to see upsets, and I think that's what the fans like to see," Florida shooting guard Lee Humphrey said. "But when you're playing, you just can't think about that stuff."

Recently, Noah and the Gators seem to have channeled all the Gator hatred into the "PHD," underdog construction that has always fueled their signature swagger. After Florida beat Oregon in the Midwest Regional final on Sunday, Noah grabbed a microphone and yelled, "Keep hatin' -- we win, we eat."

Noah had been relatively subdued during Florida's NCAA Tournament run this year. Mostly because he, like everyone else, understood that the Gators would be judged by how they played in late March and the first week of April, that it was back-to-back or bust.

It was even understood on campus, which still had a little hangover from celebrating last year's national championship in basketball and football's BCS national title in January.

"Last year, after we won the championship, the first week was pretty crazy. We'd hang (the commemorative shirts) on the racks, and they'd be gone," said Pamela Houghton, a general merchandise manager at the campus bookstore. "This year, there wasn't a lot of interest in the Sweet 16 shirts. I think people were kind of holding off.

"But I'm seeing a lot more interest in the Final Four shirts. And if we win again, I'm sure people will want something to remember it by."

Because it would still be fun. Right?

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Joakim Noah, center, and fellow seniors, clockwise from top left, Al Hoford, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey hope to lead the Florida Gators back to the NCAA title game with a victory over UCLA.

Photo illustration Bryan Fowler/Daily News

(2) Florida forward Al Horford, left, and coach Billy Donovan hope to celebrate another national championship this weekend.

Ed Reinke/Associated Press

Box:

(1) (2) GEORGETOWN (30-6) vs. (1) OHIO STATE (34-3)

(2) (2) UCLA (30-5) vs. (1) FLORIDA (33-5)