Billy Donovan Best Quotations

We're sitting up here as national champions, but I don't necessarily believe we're the best team. In a one-shot deal like this, I've been on both sides. I've been heartbroken, and now we're national champions.

Lee might be one of the best shooters I've coached, but what he doesn't get enough credit for is his ability to defend on his perimeter. He's probably our most consistent defender in terms of keeping guys in front of him and challenging shots.

Lee is one of those guys who understands scouting reports, schemes and how we are guarding. You can be rest assured that he is going to follow everything to the minute detail of what he has to do. So, forget about the shooting part of it, we have just lost maybe our best overall defender.

Lee gets a lot of credit for his perimeter shooting. Forget about the shooting part of it, we've just lost maybe our best overall defender. Lee is our most consistent, most disciplined, best defender.

Obviously as a freshman, without question he was not only one of the best freshmen in the league, but was one of the better players in the league. He's got great size. He can shoot over top of people. He makes every difficult shots.

I don't feel that our program at all is ever an afterthought. I think we have the best of both worlds.

I don't know what the official said. I actually thought it may have grazed the rim, but I didn't have the best view of the play. Mike is a fiery guy. He's a tough competitor.

He's got great ability and great talent. But the best part of his game is he's a great competitor, has great enthusiasm and he plays to exhaustion.

He just felt like where he was at physically it was best for Walter to start. I think that takes a kid with unbelievable character, a kid that cares about the team, a kid who has started every single game since he's been here walked into my office and said, 'Coach, Walter needs to start, I need to come off the bench.' . . . I don't know how many sophomores in college would come in and say that.

Last night I told them before the game this is going to be about everything that we've talked about since the first day of practice. Unselfishness. Team work. Team defense. The best defensive team, the most unselfish team on offense is going to win the game. That's ultimately the way it played out for our guys.

I was concerned about trying to double him. I wanted him to score and to take those other guys out of the game the best we could. It worked out for us.

Our guys have to be able to handle that pressure. There are a lot of distractions. There is a lot of tugging and a lot of things you have to deal with that are different from the regular season. I want them to enjoy where they are at because it is the pinnacle of college basketball to get to this point. At the same time, you have to keep the focus there and put yourself in position to play the best basketball.

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.

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.

Did I think I would be here for 10 years? You never know. You almost have to go one year at a time and try to do the very best job you can. . . . It's very hard to stay at a place a very, very long period of time.

I still don't necessarily believe we (are) the best team in the country. When you're playing in an event that's a one-and-done deal, anything can happen. I've been on the side of it where it ends in a heart-breaking manner. And now I've been on the side where it's obviously just an incredible feeling.

Sometimes, in the NCAA Tournament, the best team doesn't always win. Sometimes it's the hottest team or the luck of the bounce or a shot going in or something happens. Why not give every kid an opportunity to create some type of magic for themselves?

Offensively, pretty much the entire game, I thought we played very well. But we played an exceptional half defensively in the second half. We were just fair at best in the first half.

You play the game out and you play the game with your best players on the floor. I think Tubby would agree with that.

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.

It wasn't the best shot. You're not going to always get a great look with the clock winding down. We didn't probably do as good a job finishing the play as I would have liked.

Everybody's role on the team is a lot different than a year ago. For us, right now, it's really a one-game tournament. We've got to play to the best of our ability on Friday and hopefully advance and be able to play on Saturday.

The best way to describe this team is we have a very good motor, ... We have high-energy people. We have a lot of youthful enthusiasm.

As a coach, I can't put the ball in the hole for them. But what I can try to do is put them in the best position to take advantage of the talent level they have that they can make plays ... Right now, we have a bunch of guys that are unproven in that area so I'm going to try to eliminate any focus on them worrying about scoring.

I'm not really concerned about that with us at this point. I'm concerned about us going into each game being the best we can be.

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

I'm just happy for everybody. I'm very blessed and very thankful for the opportunity to coach these kids. I thought whoever attacked the other team's defense better was going to have the best chance of winning the game.

In recruiting, I don't ever feel like all of a sudden guys are now jumping to come to Florida. You still have to work hard and do a good job of evaluating and making sure you get guys who you feel would be best fit for the program and fit in well with teammates.

I have said before that we are not the most talented team, we are not the best team and there are always ugly moments in games. But you are always going to feel good as a coach walking off the court coaching these guys because they give you everything they have. Whether that is enough to win the game (against Tennessee), we'll see.