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
basketball experience felt games starting team win
This team, starting the season, I felt had all the team makeup. Unselfishness. They wanted to learn, they wanted to work, they wanted to get better. I didn't know if we'd have the experience to win basketball games or enough basketball games because we'd never been there before.
kids team
This team is just different. Different kids, different time, different everything.
components couple far last team teams
This team has got balance. There's a lot of components to this team. And you know what, the last couple years our teams have been one-dimensional, and you can't go far being one-dimensional.
guys happened hurt interested maybe needs training
You guys get more interested in all the details. All I know is that the guy's got a hurt shoulder. How it happened doesn't really make a difference. Maybe it was defective spokes or maybe he needs training wheels, I don't know. I just know he slipped off his bike.
bigger chemistry deal people year
This year people have made a bigger deal of our chemistry or unselfishness because we're a little more balanced.
accepted al night respect wednesday
You look at Al Wednesday night and today, it's two different players. He accepted the responsibility. I respect him so much for that.
explosive guys physical powerful relation size though tigers
Even though the Tigers don't have the height, if you look at the size and girth of those guys in relation to our guys - they're more powerful and more explosive up front. I don't know if we had a physical advantage.
everybody experience last love national night playing talks time tried
Everybody talks about the end result. You're playing for the national championship. I think the only experience I tried to use from 2000 was, you've got to want this night to last as long as you can. You've got to want them to put more time on the clock. You've got to love playing.
adversity everybody face riding worried
Everybody was worried about the adversity he was going to face if he didn't make shots. We didn't know the adversity was riding a bike.
coaches grant hopefully job jones minute
Every minute of it. I'm thrilled, I really am. Hopefully with the job he's done, it will bode well for (assistants) Anthony Grant and Donnie Jones and other coaches who have been here.
accept address barriers broken creeps game guy guys sniff sudden teammates thinks trust
Every guy comes in and thinks they're going to play 40 minutes, and after the first game when they don't play as much as they want, you've got to be able to address it and get guys to accept their roles. If selfishness creeps in, teammates can sniff that out pretty quickly. Then all of the sudden the barriers of trust get broken down.
bother build business gotten negativity older pride realize trying
At the time, it did bother me but as I've gotten older in this business I realize there can be a lot of negativity and things said. I take a lot of pride in trying to build a program.
age age-and-aging basketball college handle kids
With the age limit, I think you're going to continually make college basketball very young. Some kids handle it better than others. ... It makes it very challenging, very, very, very difficult.
concerned guys help offensive problem providing second third
We will need to be concerned more with providing help and doing things that will take them out of their offensive flow, because if their big guys get second and third opportunities it can really become a problem for us.