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
capable daring feels jumps level needs obvious pain plants playing reckless severe watching
It's very, very obvious watching him play that he's not as reckless and daring and playing like he's capable of. I don't know if there's a level of uncertainty when he plants or jumps or runs, or if he just feels like the pain is so severe that he just can't do what he needs to do.
giving jump living pull runners shots
The whole thing with them is, if they pull up on jump shots in the lane, they take runners in the lane, and we are giving two, we are going to live with that. But we were not living with threes.
capable daring hope jumps level obvious pain plants playing reckless runs severe supposed watching
It's one of those things I can hope will get better and he can get back to playing because it's very obvious watching him play that he's not as reckless and daring and playing like he's capable of. I don't know if there's a level of uncertainty if he plants or runs or jumps or if the pain is so severe he just can't do what he's supposed to do.
best fit good guys hard job jumping program sudden sure work
In recruiting, I don't ever feel like all of a sudden guys are now jumping to come to Florida. You still have to work hard and do a good job of evaluating and making sure you get guys who you feel would be best fit for the program and fit in well with teammates.
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.
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.