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
basketball continue gotten seed win
I've never gotten into any of that stuff. If we win basketball games, our seed will continue to improve. If we don't win basketball games, our seed will not improve.
bother build business gotten negativity older pride realize trying
At the time, it did bother me but as I've gotten older in this business I realize there can be a lot of negativity and things said. I take a lot of pride in trying to build a program.
aspect dribble finding good gotten guard inside involved knowing league point pull score terms
To me, he's involved in every aspect of their offense. He can score off the dribble and he's gotten better at finding his own shot. And he's probably as good as any point guard in this league in terms of knowing when to shoot, when not to shoot, when to go inside and when to pull it out.
based both coaches drama fired given goes gotten great ncaa players provided recognized suffering tournament
It's all based on drama. Drama sells. Coaches have made money, coaches have gotten fired and players have been recognized for their achievements. I was part of Cinderella, but as much as the NCAA Tournament has propelled me and given me a lot of great moments, it's also provided a lot of hurt, pain, and suffering for me. It goes both ways.
created dribble five four gotten guys job missed open south team three
I thought there were times (against South Carolina) when guys created off the dribble and didn't find him. I thought he should have gotten up 10 or 11 shots. There was three or four or five times when our guys missed him. Our team has got to do a better job of recognizing when he's open and getting him the basketball.
basketball gotten happy knew
I'm happy for Jordan. He's gotten a lot better as a basketball player, as I knew he would. He's a hard-working kid.
change good gotten guy hard kids talented totally unselfish worked
If you have a guy that's talented but totally into himself, who never had to be unselfish a day in his life, it's really hard to change that mentality. Now we've got good kids who have been unselfish and have worked hard and gotten better.
basketball billy changing enthusiasm gotten kentucky program since terms understand
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.
felt gave half offensive outside rebounds score second tried
We tried to make them score outside their offense. We gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, but in the second half I felt like their frontcourt was fatigued.
assistance function fund kids notice players recently short student suit
We just recently had a function where we had to go into the student assistance fund to get players some clothes. Some of our kids come from backgrounds where getting a suit on short notice is difficult.
attack mix
We just wanted to continually attack and mix up our defenses.
attack continue defend extra game guys mix pass tried year
We just tried to continue to attack and mix up our defenses. I told our guys this game would come down to the same things we've been doing all year - unselfishness, making the extra pass and being able to defend and rebound.
built deep good run
We weren't good enough. We weren't built to make a deep run in the tournament.
felt fortunate locker playing room tied
We were playing for survival. I felt fortunate just going into the locker room being tied at halftime.