Billy Donovan Hard Quotations

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.

Kevin does a good job moving him around and creating shots. He's got a very good feel and he's a good, hard cutter.

I think in the SEC tournament if you can get a bye that's always a great thing. It's certainly very hard playing four consecutive games in a row to win an SEC championship.

I think you could see how hard it is to play back-to-back nights. I didn't like our defensive intensity in the first half. In the second half, we did a much, much better job.

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 think it was a great experience for our players. Obviously, it's hard to prepare for the White House on such short notice, but I think they enjoyed themselves on the trip.

I went off pretty good at halftime. It's hard if you're not making shots to get off to a good start. We could have very, very easily have been up 15 or 20 in the first half.

I think the tournament is wide open. Is it any more wide open than in years past? It's hard to say, but I just think on a neutral site with the way this league is anything can happen on any given night.

Our guys have really tried to work hard at it.

Playing hard and playing passionately isn't good enough to win.

Stan has done a great job. People don't understand how hard this league is. Arkansas' loss at Ole Miss was not a bad loss. Ole Miss is a very good, well-coached team.

I was getting frustrated watching balls go up from the three-point line, when those guys are standing 1-on-1 in the post with a guy 6-6 guarding them. It's hard sometimes. I'm constantly preaching to (Green and guard Lee Humphrey), 'When you're open, let it go.' Sometimes you have to change your thought processes.

This time of year, everybody's banged up. I think you could see how hard it is to play back-to-back nights.

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.

Corey just didn't have it today. And it's hard to expect him to have it when you don't practice for two days.

This has been a great place. It's hard to believe it's been almost 10 years.

They started to understand that playing hard isn't enough. I think that stretch helped them understand that there was another piece to winning.

They played great tonight, they really did. I was proud of how hard they played and competed. They gave me everything I could possibly ask.

They are a team that is as talented as anyone this year. They are an outstanding team. We will have our hands full at every position in this game. We don't have a physical advantage at all. It will be a hard game for us.

They're so hard to get the ball inside against. But I felt if we could just get the ball up against the backboard, we had a good chance at getting offensive rebounds. It was good to see Al and Jo play the way they did.

There's been a lot of hard work and sweat that's gone into it. It's a huge milestone. It's a huge thing for our state, for our fans.

It's a hard play. He had two people with him and he was able to get in the lane and see the basket. He probably thought he had a good shot at it.

It's hard to say right now who's going to emerge and who's going to play well.

It's hard when you lose. We have highly competitive guys. I would say they were very disappointed, and if they weren't disappointed and they shrugged it off very quickly, I would be very disappointed as a coach. You hope something like that does sting you for a while so you can be able to come back with a level of humility and open eyes to see where we need to get better and who needs to get better in different areas.

It's hard to win on the road when it's 42 to 20 on the free-throw line.

It's hard to win on the road when it's 42-20 (Arkansas' favor) in free throws shot. That's a big discrepancy. But Arkansas made only 5 of 12 free throws in the first half and that kept us in it.

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.

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.

If you have a guy that's talented but totally into himself, who never had to be unselfish a day in his life, it's really hard to change that mentality. Now we've got good kids who have been unselfish and have worked hard and gotten better.

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.

In the SEC Tournament if you can get a bye, that's always a great thing. It's certainly very hard playing four consecutive games in a row to win an SEC championship.

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.

He's always working very hard and is extremely visible. One thing I've always admired about him is that at 70, he still loves it. It's very impressive.