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
extremely help
They are very, very disciplined with the way they play defense. They help each other extremely well. They like to take you out of what you want to do. They're very, very physical.
anyone extreme floor great john luxury next playing prepare problem score taking tough underrated
He's a problem for anyone because he can rebound, he can score because of their great spacing and he's a very underrated passer out of the post. John (Thompson) has the luxury of playing him and going big or taking him off the floor and going quick. They can go from one extreme to the next because of their balance, so it makes them tough to prepare for.
admired extremely hard loves
He's always working very hard and is extremely visible. One thing I've always admired about him is that at 70, he still loves it. It's very impressive.
cheering choked expect extremely hear honor passes people taken
I got choked up. When 19 years passes by and you go back, to hear the people cheering the way they did and to honor me that way, I was extremely humbled. I was shocked, taken back, and I didn't expect anything like that.
easy extremely figured main piece remain remained
The main piece has been their willingness to remain extremely unselfish. When you get to be 17-0, you can think it's easy or that you've got it all figured out. They really remained humble. They wanted to get better.
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.
biggest far game last physical played team
The biggest thing to with Villanova to me is it's not only quickness, it's the physicality. I thought last year's game that we played them, they were by far the most physical team we played against.
almost biggest extra game kids move pass
The biggest thing is, our kids play the game the right way. They're going to make the extra pass and move the basketball. We're averaging almost 20 assists.