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
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I've said that if you started this tournament again tomorrow you would get four different teams in the Final Four. The NCAA Tournament is a totally different entity from the regular season. It's got nothing to do with the regular season. Once you get in, anything can happen.
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Flat out, the past several years -- to be totally honest -- we weren't good enough to advance. They didn't advance far enough in the tournament because maybe some of the past teams weren't built to make a deep run in the tournament.
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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.
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To start this tournament over again, I may not be sitting up here. It is a one-shot game, one-shot deal. Sometimes the best teams don't always advance on in the NCAA Tournament. This team, starting the season, I felt had all the team makeup (to go far). They were unselfish and they wanted to win.
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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.
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It just goes to show you how many good coaches there are out there, how many good players there are out there. On any given night anybody can beat anybody. George Mason certainly has proven that in this NCAA Tournament over the last two weeks.
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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.
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I think you can take seeding in the SEC and NCAA Tournament and throw it out the window. If you're not a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the first round, to me there is no real big advantage. And I think sometimes people get wrapped up in a seed and say the higher seed should win.
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I think you can (take) seeding in the SEC and NCAA Tournament and throw it out the window. If you're not a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the first round, to me there is no real big advantage. And I think sometimes people get wrapped up in a seed and say the higher seed should win.
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I think what George Mason has done this NCAA tournament has been a milestone and a breakthrough in college basketball. There's been so many programs that have been close. ... I just think in my opinion right now, when you talk about the word 'mid-major' or you talk about the word 'major,' there's no more of that to me. I think those days are over with.
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I think in the SEC tournament if you can get a bye that's always a great thing. It's certainly very hard playing four consecutive games in a row to win an SEC championship.
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I think the tournament is wide open. Is it any more wide open than in years past? It's hard to say, but I just think on a neutral site with the way this league is anything can happen on any given night.
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If someone wants to say, 'What Florida has done to this point in time means absolutely nothing... the regular season doesn't mean anything... the Southeastern Conference tournament championship means nothing.' That's fine.
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I'm very, very thankful. The NCAA Tournament to me, what's the lottery motto? You've got to be in it to win it.