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
against anyone chances coming losses playing win
They've had some very heartbreaking losses that they've had chances to win. They're coming off a big win against Kentucky. To me, they're playing as well as anyone in our league.
brought bruce hardened hope losses tennessee
Tennessee has been hardened by all those losses in the past, and now Bruce has brought in hope.
beat biggest confidence games good level lose loss people playing stop teams tournament won
One of the biggest things to stop is momentum. There are always teams that can get on a roll. Some people say that if you have won 15 games in a row, it's good to take a loss into the (NCAA) tournament. Other people say that if you lose a game, your confidence level is lower, that you are not going into the tournament playing your best. I always say that just because you lose, you can still play well. You can get beat by a better team.
coming felt fun great losses nobody offensive presence strong team translate wins
I felt like this year's team would be great to coach, a fun team to coach. They would be a team that would play unselfishly, play together. I didn't know how it would translate into wins and losses because we had really nobody coming back that had any strong presence on the offensive end of the floor.
bad great hard league loss miss people stan understand
Stan has done a great job. People don't understand how hard this league is. Arkansas' loss at Ole Miss was not a bad loss. Ole Miss is a very good, well-coached team.
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.