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
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.
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.
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.
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.
The biggest thing for David is to make good decisions and play very hard. There are some games, athletically, where what David can do is stretch the defense and really shoot it. So, we have to make sure in this game (Ole Miss) that we have him in the right match-up situation because they have so much quickness.
The big focus for us was the three-point line. I think we were able to hold them without a three-point shot for the first 35 minutes. We shot 34 percent in the first half, but the fact that we shot 40 percent from three-point line in the first half gave us a five-point lead.
The big focus for us was the 3-point line.
The best way to describe this team is we have a very good motor, ... We have high-energy people. We have a lot of youthful enthusiasm.
Not the 16 and 16 necessarily, but I knew he was going to bring it.
They want to stay together as a group and they want to play together as a team. It was their decision.
They were really showing signs of becoming a very good team. The last 32 minutes we were outplayed, out-coached and out-everything by South Carolina.
They were unselfish. They wanted to win, wanted to learn. They wanted to work, and they wanted to get better.
They like to go up and down the floor and we like to go up and down the floor. The team that executes that phase better is the team that will win the game.
It was great to see Lee letting it go and shooting it. He's always taken 3s, but the biggest change I saw with him was the confidence.