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
He doesn't want this. He wants to spread it around. He doesn't view himself as a celebrity.
He gets bothered at a lot of the attention, or (that) people want to talk to him because it is a unique story. It is a unique family. He worries about getting too much attention and taking away from the rest of the guys. ... He doesn't want that.
He made the game easier for the entire team. He really got everyone else involved. Some guys had some really big nights because of his dribble penetration.
He'll thank me four or five times walking off the floor. I don't expect to be thanked. That's the way he is.
He never has a bad day. He is an unbelievable kid. He has a great disposition. He's intelligent. And he's very, very enthusiastic.
He'll definitely travel. I'd say, right now, that he's not going to play.
He needed to have a game like this. I was happy for him. The last week or so, I think he's been doing some soul searching, just trying to find a way to come up with some answers to help our team. He helped out big-time tonight.
When he's letting it go and shooting with confidence like that, it makes us a different team. Some days, it might not be his night, but we need for him to continue to be aggressive.
Statistically, that was the key to the game. We shoot 49 percent on the road, you're not going to get much better than that.
Stan has done a great job. People don't understand how hard this league is. Arkansas' loss at Ole Miss was not a bad loss. Ole Miss is a very good, well-coached team.
My philosophy defensively is to try to take teams out of what they practice every single day.
My personal opinion, after talking with these kids and their families, is they will be back next year.
My personal feeling is right now our team will be back next year outside of Adrian Moss.
It has to start somewhere. That's what we are trying to build at Florida. It's never been done, never been sustained.