Billy Donovan Teams Quotations

What they've been able to do this year is great for basketball. Most teams don't get a chance to experience what they've been able to experience. In this tournament, they were able to inspire a lot of people. There was no resentment on our team for feeling like they got all the attention or we got slighted.

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.

One of the biggest things to stop is momentum. There are always teams that can get on a roll. Some people say that if you have won 15 games in a row, it's good to take a loss into the (NCAA) tournament. Other people say that if you lose a game, your confidence level is lower, that you are not going into the tournament playing your best. I always say that just because you lose, you can still play well. You can get beat by a better team.

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.

I don't think anybody beating anybody is going to be a surprise to any coach in this league because of the balance and the parity between the 12 teams in the league.

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.

Right now Tennessee and LSU on both sides are the teams that have been the most consistent.

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.

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.

With the teams we're playing and the stretch we have the next seven days, these guys need to get to a crossroad. Their backs are against the wall. They're either really going to try to do those things, or they're going to put themselves in a position where we can't play to the best of our ability.

We shot ourselves in the foot a lot of times in the second half. . . . I thought both teams had fatigue settle in as the game went on.

To start this tournament over again, I may not be sitting up here. It is a one-shot game, one-shot deal. Sometimes the best teams don't always advance on in the NCAA Tournament. This team, starting the season, I felt had all the team makeup (to go far). They were unselfish and they wanted to win.

This team has got balance. There's a lot of components to this team. And you know what, the last couple years our teams have been one-dimensional, and you can't go far being one-dimensional.

We try to take teams out of what they practice every single day, whether through pressing, trapping, three-quarter-court pressing, through trapping pick-and-rolls, trapping the low post. We're trying to do things to disrupt the flow of the game.

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've been in this league a long time and I never feel like the SEC is given its due. If you look around the country right now, there are leagues out there that are very top heavy, but there are not many out there that have the balance that our conference has. If you look at what some of our teams have done to quality opponents outside the league, it's pretty impressive.

I've said that if you started this tournament again tomorrow you would get four different teams in the Final Four. The NCAA Tournament is a totally different entity from the regular season. It's got nothing to do with the regular season. Once you get in, anything can happen.

These were two teams that were very well balanced going against each other. We were fortunate to come out and top.

They play college basketball way they should play it. We're looking at this game as playing one of the best teams in the United States of America because that is what they are.

They have a chance to be special this year, ... They should be, without question, one of the top five teams in the country.

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 teams like George Mason that give so many people hope in their lives, just seeing what great things can be accomplished.

It was a great college basketball game with both teams going back and forth and they were able to take the lead on a play. We got Lee a pretty good shot and if he makes it, we're up by one. It was a little bit short. I thought it had a great chance to go in.

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.

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.

Arkansas fans are great fans. It's a shame because you have two really great teams playing against each other and it wasn't a sellout because of the weather in the area.

I knew both teams played sound defense. I thought whoever could attack better had the best chance to win this game.

If you look at our last four to six games, everybody knew it was going to be the toughest part and stretch of our schedule. Our basketball team, when we had all that early success, I don't know if we've played against teams as talented as we're playing against now.

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.

I don't know if we've played against teams as talented as teams we're playing against now. Playing hard, playing unselfish, doing all the right things, team-wise, is great. ... But it's not good enough to beat good teams.

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.