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's teams like George Mason that give so many people hope in their lives, just seeing what great things can be accomplished.
The second half was a back-and-forth basketball game. Give Arkansas credit. They made some plays and their kids played hard and I thought it was a great college basketball game that both teams had a chance to win at times.
It was a great, great college basketball game. Both teams had a chance to win. I think Arkansas is as talented as any team in the league. They have more experience, much more size and physicality than we do.
It was a back-and-forth basketball game. Both teams had a chance to win, but give Arkansas credit. They were able to find a way to come out with a victory.
I don't know there's a clear-cut favorite right now. If you're going to look at what's happened, LSU has been the most impressive in our league. You're dealing with depth issues for everybody, you're going to be dealing with fatigue issues, you're going to have to deal with foul trouble, you're going to have to deal with playing three teams in a row and you have to deal and move from one day to the next.
Maybe the crowd has something to do with it. I don't know what the reason would be. There are some teams, they feel more pressure at home and they play looser on the road. There are some teams that feel a lot more confident at home and they aren't as confident on the road. What gets into it, creeps into the mindset, I'm not really sure. I wish I had the answer.
It is a one-shot game, one-shot deal. Sometimes the ?best' teams don't always advance on in the NCAA tournament. That's why there are so many ups and downs, and that's why there are upsets, because there is one game. One game, you don't play well that particular night, you are going to go home.
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.
I knew both teams played sound defense. I thought whoever could attack better had the best chance to win this game.
In our league with the quality of teams and playing four consecutive nights, I think for any team it's a disadvantage. But you go into the tournament with the hand you're dealt.
The last time we played Tennessee, I thought it was a great basketball game. Both teams played well. It was a tie score with 20 seconds to go. Both teams played a pretty balanced game. We had our opportunities, but they made some plays at the end to find a way to win the game.
My philosophy defensively is to try to take teams out of what they practice every single day.
That's the one thing that's been great about our basketball teams over the years -- they've earned their way in. Now, we've got to make something happen.
Right now so much changes, there are so many games going on, and different things happen during the course of the year. So much of your RPI is affected on the teams that you play, how they do against somebody else, how all those things happen.