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
I believe Corey is going to play. How productive, I don't know. But Lee, I tell you, I don't know. He hasn't really done anything at all.
I believe that based on our league, and we've played everyone right now once, they're as good as everybody in the league. Alabama probably deserves to be in along with a lot of other people.
He really made a poor choice, didn't he?
For our basketball team, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, our guys were very, very impatient on offense. We didn't have the ball movement and the player movement we needed to have. We had good ball movement and player movement and we shot 57 percent in the second half. If we would have played similar to that and rebounded like we did in the first half, it would have been a different game. We couldn't put it all together.
I don't think basketball has ever been an afterthought, at least since I've been here. In the Southeast, in terms of enthusiasm and excitement, it's for football. In Kentucky and Indiana, it's for basketball. I understand that and Billy Donovan isn't changing that culture. ... But I think our program has gotten respect.
I don't think anything surprises at least me any more in this tournament.
I am very, very proud of these kids. It has been such a remarkable run up to this point, just with so much uncertainty surrounding this season with people leaving early and these guys having to step up.
I feel bad for these kids that the past has to be brought up to them. Some of them weren't even here. Some of them weren't even playing. The only constant is me. I just hope people write about these kids today.
I don't think these kids would do what they did up there if they weren't comfortable with it.
I don't think the score is indicative of how much they outplayed us in this game.
He's never had a bad practice since he's been here.
I could be sitting up here as the losing coach from Florida. I'm just not a big believer that this tournament defines people, coaches, teams, individuals. I'll never believe that because too much can happen in a one-game situation.
I do not believe there is any clear-cut favorite right now. LSU has been the most impressive in our league, but you're dealing with depth issues for everybody, you're dealing with fatigue issues, you're going to have to deal with foul trouble, you're going to have to deal with playing three games in a row.
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.