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
In the second half, it's a little bit different because your point guard is coming at you. But there is no question that it's a different environment. It's a different place to play in.
In the NCAA tournament, there are two things people love to see -- a Cinderella story and a team that is so powerful and explosive they look invincible.
In scouting George Mason, they had been shooting 33 percent on their 3-pointers all year and as much as 42 percent. We knew we had to control their perimeter shooting. I thought we did a great job of shutting them down and keeping them off-balance.
If your point guard doesn't play great, generally your team's not flowing very well. It's just kind of the way it is.
If you win games, it sounds like you have a better chance of getting into the tournament and getting a higher seed. And if you lose games, chances are you may not get in or get a bad seed.
In my opinion, they are a better team this year than they were a year ago watching them on film. I would say that our basketball team is totally different.
I knew this would be a team that would play hard.
The complexion of college basketball has changed so much.
The greatest equalizer in college basketball -- it doesn't make a difference about talent or who's better than who -- is the three-point line.
These kids are throwbacks. It's very, very refreshing. You're dealing with different, different kids. Does Chris Richard want to start and score 35 points every game and grab 15 rebounds? Yes. But they're willing to put the team before themselves.
These kids are about challenges, competition. I don't think they look at playing at Georgia any differently than they do playing St. Joe's. In their minds, being 13-0, they are going in there feeling that they are underdogs because it's a road game in a place that's tough to play.
This has probably been the greatest collection of guys I have had in one class in terms of understanding what unselfishness, what team is all about. They get that piece of it.
All of those guys can look at the individual honors and attribute it to playing as a team. They made it possible by being a team and they were honored as a team.
And he wanted to battle me and fight me on that. He just didn't believe it.