Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan
William John Donovan, Jr.is an American professional basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. He previously spent 19 seasons at the University of Florida, where his Florida Gators men's basketball teams won two NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships in 2006 and 2007. Donovan has more wins than any other coach in the history of the Florida basketball program, and he coached the Gators to more NCAA tournament appearances,...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 May 1965
CityRockville Centre, NY
chris great himself improve seen strides terms tribute understanding work
Chris has seen himself improve and get better. And I think that is a tribute to him really making some great strides as a person in terms of his work ethic, in terms of competing, in terms of understanding what we want as coaches.
guy leader player team year
I have never had a player go from a 10-minute-a-game guy one year to being a team leader on the floor. It's pretty unusual, but so is he.
coming felt fun great losses nobody offensive presence strong team translate wins
I felt like this year's team would be great to coach, a fun team to coach. They would be a team that would play unselfishly, play together. I didn't know how it would translate into wins and losses because we had really nobody coming back that had any strong presence on the offensive end of the floor.
bit emotion felt floor great guys hard learned physical played side talking team understand unfinished
I felt like our team learned a lot today. I think our guys understand a little bit more how hard you've got to compete, and I'm talking about physically. Our guys play with great emotion and energy, but there's also a physical side they've got to learn. They are an unfinished product, but they really try. We played aggressively, we got up and down the floor and we played our style.
bad brought felt kept manhattan past
I felt bad for these kids. The past kept being brought back to them. They weren't part of it. They had nothing to do with Manhattan or Creighton.
care concern deal great kids love
I can tell you that these kids have a great deal of love and concern and care for one another.
easily hurt lives
I can't live their lives for them. They could just as easily get hurt doing something on the court.
build scratch start win
When you can start something from scratch and build it up to win a championship, that's something special.
bad freak maybe needs soon training
Maybe it was defective spokes, maybe he needs training wheels, I don't know. I just know he slipped off his bike. ... It was a freak thing that I feel bad about for Lee, but we've got to try to get him back as soon as we can.
maybe needs training
Maybe it was defective spokes, maybe he needs training wheels, I don't know.
confident creeps crowd gets home looser maybe pressure reason teams wish
Maybe the crowd has something to do with it. I don't know what the reason would be. There are some teams, they feel more pressure at home and they play looser on the road. There are some teams that feel a lot more confident at home and they aren't as confident on the road. What gets into it, creeps into the mindset, I'm not really sure. I wish I had the answer.
fired genuinely player seemed staged upset whether
Obviously, something upset him. Whether it was staged or something -- he seemed genuinely upset about it -- I don't know. He's as fired up and enthusiastic as any player out there.
best difficult freshmen great obviously players question shoot top
Obviously as a freshman, without question he was not only one of the best freshmen in the league, but was one of the better players in the league. He's got great size. He can shoot over top of people. He makes every difficult shots.
andre both felt floor good improved likes looks major offensive team teams tennessee though
It's early, but it looks as though Tennessee is a very good offensive team. I've always felt like they've had talent. Major Wingate and Andre Patterson are improved offensive players. They are a team that likes to play in transition, like us. Both teams are going to get up and down the floor and do what they like to do.