Billy Donovan Win Quotations

When you can start something from scratch and build it up to win a championship, that's something special.

I don't get into the numbers because you still have to go win that game. There's not much difference in a 1 or a 2 or in a 3 and a 4. Beyond that anything can happen. That's why it's called March Madness.

Based on what do we deserve to win those games? Based on what? Three, four sophomores and a freshman? That doesn't give us a right.

I don't think you can win without it. That's the biggest challenge we as coaches face every year.

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.

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 think sometimes when you win people think you're not challenged, but I don't necessarily agree with that. (Wake Forest and Syracuse) were won by five points, then we went to Miami and with two minutes to go in the game the score was tied. Sometimes people think if you win, it's been all easy. I think our guys have had to grind out games and find ways to win some games. I'd rather learn through winning than losing.

Our kids just kept battling and playing hard. I mean, to win a championship game and not even get to 50 points is truly remarkable.

Our team battled through the adversity of the game. They battled through not shooting the ball, and we found a way, defensively, to win the game.

Our basketball team this year has played with energy; they've played with passion and enthusiasm. And this time of year, those things will keep you around and keep you in the game, but they're not good enough to win the game.

I think hitting his first shot helped him. It was great to see Lee mix up his game. Lee took a step in that he found other ways to help our team win when he wasn't hitting his 3-pointers.

We could have prevented them from storming the floor at Arkansas, you know? Win the game. We could have prevented them from storming the floor at Tennessee. Win the game. . . . The only thing I would be concerned about is the safety of our guys.

We still have to play the games. At this point in the year, you talk about those things. I don't know what real advantage it gives you except you've got to win three games instead of four.

This will be our second time to face South Carolina this season. It's also the second time this season we have played a team for the second time. They played with great emotion the last time we played each other. We got off to a good start early, but they were the better team that night. It was a six-point win for them, but they had us down 15 points at one point. This game will be a challenge for us. They have competitive kids and they totally out performed us. They beat us in every facet of the game. The challenge to our team is to take it one game to the next. Our last time against them is over. Our last home game is over.

This team, starting the season, I felt had all the team makeup. Unselfishness. They wanted to learn, they wanted to work, they wanted to get better. I didn't know if we'd have the experience to win basketball games or enough basketball games because we'd never been there before.

I've never gotten into any of that stuff. If we win basketball games, our seed will continue to improve. If we don't win basketball games, our seed will not improve.

Sometimes, it's about players. The makeup of these guys, they've come into the season and played unselfish. We're fortunate to be 12-0 but at the same time have done the things that we needed to do offensively and defensively to win those games.

Self-inflicted wounds. I knew it was going to be this kind of a game. I told our team we're going to have to grind it out and win ugly.

Our faculty rep said to me before the game that when you start with something from scratch and you build it up to win a championship, that's something special.

On TV, it looks great ... but it's really a scary environment on the floor. The other thing it does is it takes away from what a great win Florida State had. They shouldn't (have to) be addressing their lack of security or whatever. ... They should be talking about how great their kids played and what a great win it was for their program.

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.

For a while there, everybody talked about if you really want to win at the college level, you have to have two or three pros on your team. I'm not so sure that's the case any more.

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.

It was a good win for us. Vanderbilt is a very good basketball team. Vanderbilt is a very difficult team to play against. The biggest thing is that our basketball team is still learning. Vanderbilt did some things to us at first where we had to settle in and we picked it up, certainly in the second half, but the first 10 minutes were tough.

It was a great win against a very good team. From start to finish, LSU has really had an unbelievable season, individually and as a team. They've been the most consistent team all year long.

It was a courageous win for our basketball team.

It was one of those games where we did enough offensively to win the game . . . (but) you've got to defend and rebound better than we did.

They like to go up and down the floor and we like to go up and down the floor. The team that executes that phase better is the team that will win the game.

They've had some very heartbreaking losses that they've had chances to win. They're coming off a big win against Kentucky. To me, they're playing as well as anyone in our league.

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.

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

I'm very, very thankful. The NCAA Tournament to me, what's the lottery motto? You've got to be in it to win it.

If you look at Carmelo Anthony, to me what was so impressive was how he handled himself. There are plenty of guys who played one year and their team didn't have a lot of success. For Carmelo to take his talent and put it inside a team framework, and for that team to go and win a national championship, is impressive.

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.

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.

If you win games, it sounds like you have a better chance of getting into the tournament and getting a higher seed. And if you lose games, chances are you may not get in or get a bad seed.

I think our guys are eager to get on to the next phase. We have some guys who know what it takes to win in this tournament.

Because the game was close, our weaknesses got magnified. We had the same weaknesses against Kentucky, but when you win by 17 ... you have a tendency to look past all the mistakes and focus on all the exciting plays.

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.