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
Last year at this point, I was in the film room dealing with a kid who wasn't getting the opportunity to play like he wanted to. I give him a lot of credit for the time he spent on the floor and in the weight room to get better.
We could have prevented them from storming the floor at Arkansas, you know? Win the game. We could have prevented them from storming the floor at Tennessee. Win the game. . . . The only thing I would be concerned about is the safety of our guys.
We don't have the luxury of making a mistake on the backboard, and we make mistake after mistake. For every time one of our guys gets praise for blocking a shot, when they don't, they give up position by leaving the floor too early.
I felt like our team learned a lot today. I think our guys understand a little bit more how hard you've got to compete, and I'm talking about physically. Our guys play with great emotion and energy, but there's also a physical side they've got to learn. They are an unfinished product, but they really try. We played aggressively, we got up and down the floor and we played our style.
Going into this game, we don't have any excuses. We have enough to get out on the floor and dress. We're not going to be playing five against four.
He's a problem for anyone because he can rebound, he can score because of their great spacing and he's a very underrated passer out of the post. John (Thompson) has the luxury of playing him and going big or taking him off the floor and going quick. They can go from one extreme to the next because of their balance, so it makes them tough to prepare for.
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's early, but it looks as though Tennessee is a very good offensive team. I've always felt like they've had talent. Major Wingate and Andre Patterson are improved offensive players. They are a team that likes to play in transition, like us. Both teams are going to get up and down the floor and do what they like to do.
It's good to see him do well because he was non-existent at South Carolina. He's having a phenomenal year. I'm hoping he can continue to evolve and move forward. We missed his rebounding last game, but he did a terrific job on both ends of the floor today. It's good to see him learning.
I was a defensive stopper. I shut guys down. I didn't shoot much.
I was a little bit concerned just because he was throwing up, and it was several times throughout the course of the night. He didn't get very much sleep.
It is so hard when you have departures all the time to stay at the highest level. It's almost like coaching junior college now, and people want to level to stay up high.
I thought we left a lot of points on the board in the first half, because we had 11 turnovers and we were shooting 52 or 53 percent from the field. Second half we only turned it over three times and we shot 52 percent from the field and that's why we had a 52-point half.
I thought we had some good looks, some good plays.