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
air blocking fly
They're not blocking those guys' shots. If they want to fly through the air and do that, they'll be on the bench.
attempts blocking couple game good guards job key situations
I didn't think our guards did a very good job of blocking out. There were a couple of key situations in the game where our guards didn't even attempts to block out.
block broken cause defensive figure giving good helping lost missed shots team three understand
When we lost three in a row, I said it's good for our team because it is helping them figure out how to win. They didn't understand a missed block out, a broken defensive assignment, giving up 3-point shots could cause us to lose.
blocking floor gets guys leaving luxury mistake position praise time
We don't have the luxury of making a mistake on the backboard, and we make mistake after mistake. For every time one of our guys gets praise for blocking a shot, when they don't, they give up position by leaving the floor too early.
blocked blocks came committed game good guys miami moving playing post shooting shots
Our blocks in the Miami game came the right way. They came with our big guys playing good post defense, moving their feet. When someone from Miami committed to shooting the basketball, most of our blocked shots were on the ball.
block concerned focus guys rebound shot shots start telling
We're not at all telling our guys when the shot is up, you need to block shots. We're more concerned about challenging shots and then being able to block out and rebound to start the break. That's where our focus has been.
air block blocking coaching emphasis good happen jumping last point saying several shots staff team trying
We're blocking more shots than we have in the last several years, but I don't think as a coaching staff we're saying this is a point of emphasis for our defense. We don't want to be a team that's just jumping up in the air trying to block shots because there are a lot of things that happen that are not good if you don't block it. So we just have to be selective.
blessed coach thankful
I'm very blessed and thankful to coach these kids.
definitely feels guess sure teeth wear wiring
I'm sure he'd have too because he's got some wiring in his teeth right now. If he did, he'd definitely have to wear something. I don't know how he feels about that or if that would be comfortable with him, but my guess would be he'd have to do something.
critical mistakes realize
I'm very critical of myself, and I know that you need to realize your mistakes to grow.
knew team
I knew this would be a team that would play hard.
certain effort guys problem understanding
Effort has never been a problem with these guys. Our problem has been our guys not understanding and not recognizing certain situations.
ability advance best friday hopefully role team year
Everybody's role on the team is a lot different than a year ago. For us, right now, it's really a one-game tournament. We've got to play to the best of our ability on Friday and hopefully advance and be able to play on Saturday.
across add biggest cares changing drama guys half mandatory ncaa press road tournament
The biggest thing with the NCAA Tournament is to try to get across to your guys that there's a lot of drama and a lot of changing of routines. Any road game, we've never come in a day and a half early. We have to go to a mandatory shoot-around, we have to go to press conferences. When we go on the road to Alabama, no one cares we're in town. This is an event. For some guys, that can add pressure.