ST. LOUIS - Joakim Noah stood at midcourt, glaring and beating his chest. The Florida fans were showering him with love, but all he heard was hate.

Florida's Joakim Noah reacts after defeating Oregon 85-77 in the NCAA Midwest Regional final basketball game in St. Louis, Sunday, March 25, 2007. Florida advances to the Final Four in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

The critics who built the Gators up, only to bash them when they lost three of four games in February. The naysayers who insist there's no way Florida can win another national title.

Well, let 'em hate. Noah and his buddies will be happy to give them more to despise as they head back to the Final Four for another title run.

"There's been such a circus around this team, so many distraction and I feel like everybody is trying to divide us," Noah said after Florida beat third-seeded Oregon 85-77 in the Midwest Regional final on Sunday.

"It's just making us bond. We realize all we have is each other. That's the only thing that really matters."

That and another title.

Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer didn't turn their backs on fat NBA contracts — temporarily, at least — just so they could to take another econ class. No, the Gators (33-5) want to be the first team since Duke in 1991-92 to win back-to-back basketball titles — and the first ever to do it with the same five starters.

To do it, though, they'll have to first get by UCLA in the national semifinals Saturday. It's a rematch of last year's championship game, which Florida won in a rout, 73-57.

"They are better than a year ago, and present a great challenge for us," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "They have no weaknesses."

Last year's victory over UCLA gave Florida not only its first national title, but the first half of what would turn out to be the Gator Slam. When Florida beat Ohio State for the national football title in January, the Gators became the first school to be champs in both sports at the same time.

And how's this for quirky: If the Gators get by UCLA on Saturday, they could be playing none other than those Buckeyes for the title. Ohio State won the South Regional, and will play Georgetown on Saturday.

"People throw everything at us every time they play us," Chris Richard said. "Everyone is out to get us. Sometimes we think we're the Yankees or the Cardinals. The New England Patriots or the Dallas Cowboys."

One of the biggest knocks on Florida is that while the team looks exactly like last year's, it doesn't play like it.

With the exception of one game, last year's squad romped through the tournament. This one has had to come from behind in each game.

Last year's squad was devastatingly potent, with Noah, Horford and Brewer dominating inside and Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green hurting opponents outside. This year's squad has yet to get the bigs and the guards going at the same time.

Take Sunday. Though Noah had 14 points and 14 rebounds, Horford had only six points and seven rebounds, and was never much of a factor.

It was the Ducks (29-8) who dictated the tempo of the game early, getting their guards free for easy shots and even dumping the ball inside to Malik Hairston. They flustered Florida just as much on the other end, and the Gators had nine turnovers before the game was even 10 minutes old.

But after that ninth turnover, Florida settled down. Humphrey hit a 3-pointer that sparked a 20-9 run. Over the next 6 1/2 minutes, the Gators didn't have a single turnover and turned a five-point deficit into a 33-27 lead.

Aaron Brooks tied it at 45 with 17:06 left, following a 3-pointer with a layup. But Green responded with a 3 and a driving layup that brought the Florida bench to its feet and gave the Gators a 50-45 lead with 16:18 to play.

After a timeout, Humphrey hit a 3 to make it 53-47 with 15:35 to go, and Oregon never got closer than four rest of the way.

"We've always been a team that's tried to take what the defense gives us," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "It was a game where we were going to have to make some 3-point shots and just not pound the ball inside. It was a game where our bigs didn't score a lot of points and our guards shot the ball very well."

Humphrey made seven 3-pointers and finished with 23 points, and Green added 21. Humphrey now has 280 career 3s, a Florida record.

Brooks led Oregon with 27 points, and Hairston added 18 and five rebounds before he fouled out. Fouls were a big problem for the Ducks, who had two other players besides Hairston foul out and two more finish with four.

A bigger problem was the rare off night by Tajuan Porter, the little guard with the monster shot. After going off for eight 3s and 33 points Friday night, he didn't make his first field goal until less than a minute was left in the game.

He finished with 10 points, but was just 2-of-12 from the field.

"I don't think they beat us at our own style at all. No way," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. "There were opportunities."

Oregon did get within four on a Porter 3 with 17 seconds left. But Florida put it away when Green went 3-of-4 from the line and Porter was called for traveling with 9 seconds left.

As the final seconds ticked down, Florida's celebration was on.

Noah screamed, "Keep hating!" and "We win, we eat!" as the Florida fans roared their approval. The MVP of last year's Final Four sprinted across the court, grabbed Donovan and hefted him in the air, shaking him.

After the Gators accepted yet another trophy, they huddled together on the podium and rocked back and forth, whooping and hollering. Then they climbed the ladders to cut down the nets — something they've gotten quite good at over the last two seasons.

The Gators have won 16 straight in the postseason, a stretch that includes one national championship and two Southeastern Conference titles.

"It was a lot harder this year because night in and night out, we got people's best shot. We've had to adjust and it's just been really tough," Brewer said. "It's been really rewarding because we've got the same five guys back and basically the same team.

"We just love playing with each other, and it feels so good to get back to the Final Four."