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
I thought the release by one of them there in the second half at the end of the game, his follow through did not look good on it and it came up short. Lee was in here (Sunday) night getting shots up. I've obviously got to be intelligent here because I've got a player burden in Brewer and we're down to eight scholarship guys. It's not like every day Lee can run and bang and go up and down the floor.
I've often said the greatest equalizer in college basketball is the 3-point line. They outscored us by 12 from the 3-point line. Our inability to limit them to one shot and inability to guard the 3-point line cost us. Anytime a team can come into your building and shoot 53 percent from the field and 47 percent from the 3-point line, you have to have a very, very good night on offense.
This is not about me. If we are fortunate enough to win tomorrow night, it's over. Tuesday morning, it's gone, on to the next thing.
He made the game easier for the entire team. He really got everyone else involved. Some guys had some really big nights because of his dribble penetration.
Everybody talks about the end result. You're playing for the national championship. I think the only experience I tried to use from 2000 was, you've got to want this night to last as long as you can. You've got to want them to put more time on the clock. You've got to love playing.
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.
It's an area he's invested a lot of time in. It would have been very difficult for us (Wednesday night) had he gone 12-for-22 from the line, or 10-for-22 from the line.
That's one of the things we talked about with our guys. How are we going to respond when we don't shoot well? Here was a night where we didn't shoot the ball well. This was a game where we had to grind it out and find a way to win.
That takes a kid with unbelievable character. It takes a kid who cares about the team, a kid who wants to win.
Corey was a definite spark for us at the start of the second half. He made a couple baskets to get us going and he did some good things defensively.
It's teams like George Mason that give so many people hope in their lives, just seeing what great things can be accomplished.
You're playing a game right now, living each moment. Play each moment. They peaked and probably played well because of the setbacks we had in February that helped us grow.
That's generally a recipe for disaster, but because we defended the 3-point line that gave us an opportunity.
It's hard to win a road game when it's 42-20 at the free throw line. It really disrupted our flow and made us stagnant in our offense.