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
It was good to see us score so many points without those guys playing so much.
It was good to see those guys get rewarded out there. Our normal rotation guys enjoyed those guys' success on the floor.
They choreographed all that. I had nothing to do with that.
They can play with anybody in the United States of America, and they've proven that.
They are very, very disciplined with the way they play defense. They help each other extremely well. They like to take you out of what you want to do. They're very, very physical.
You could see then that they had the elements of a good team with the balance of their scoring and their ability to defend.
You could see him getting better and better and better. First guy in the gym, last guy to leave.
You can't get many assists if you don't shoot the ball well. I thought our player movement in the first half at times was poor.
The complexion of college basketball has changed so much.
These kids are throwbacks. It's very, very refreshing. You're dealing with different, different kids. Does Chris Richard want to start and score 35 points every game and grab 15 rebounds? Yes. But they're willing to put the team before themselves.
These kids are about challenges, competition. I don't think they look at playing at Georgia any differently than they do playing St. Joe's. In their minds, being 13-0, they are going in there feeling that they are underdogs because it's a road game in a place that's tough to play.
This has probably been the greatest collection of guys I have had in one class in terms of understanding what unselfishness, what team is all about. They get that piece of it.
The greatest equalizer in college basketball -- it doesn't make a difference about talent or who's better than who -- is the three-point line.
All of those guys can look at the individual honors and attribute it to playing as a team. They made it possible by being a team and they were honored as a team.