Billy "The Kid" Donovan Visits Orlando
Billy Donovan’s season may have ended just a couple weeks ago, but he was ready to take in even more basketball when former University of Florida standout Matt Bonner came to town Wednesday with the Toronto Raptors to face the Orlando Magic. Orlandomagic.com caught up with the UF head men’s basketball coach to talk about his former players, his season, and his thoughts on one day possibly joining the ranks by going pro himself. Q: One of your former players, Matt Bonner, is playing for the Toronto Raptors tonight – do you try to come to Orlando to catch UF guys that are now playing in the NBA?
A: “I try to, but it’s kind of hard when our season is going on. I try to get here to Orlando when different guys come through. It was very easy when Mike Miller was here – I got to see a lot, but now we have Matt Bonner, Jason Williams, Donnell Harvey and Udonis Haslem (in the NBA). If our season is finished, then I try to get up here and watch them play.”
Q: You have some NBA prospects on your squad right now – is there any consensus you are getting as to where David Lee may go in this year’s draft?
A: “I think David has a great chance to be a first-round draft pick. I think a lot of that depends on high school kids that come out, international players, and then kids out of college. I think David has had a great career at Florida and a great senior year and I think there are going to be a lot of people looking at him as being a first-round draft pick.”
Q: Evaluate your season – did it meet and/or exceed your preseason expectations?
A: “I didn’t know what to expect, because I knew we had three solid players coming back for us in (Anthony) Roberson, Lee and (Matt) Walsh. Beyond that, I didn’t know. Our freshmen came in and did a great job, and we got a chance to win our first SEC Championship in school history. There were a lot of things that we did that were very positive, but like anything else, your goal is to try to win a national championship and we have to keep striving for that. Overall, it was a great group for me to coach – they worked really hard, and it was a lot of fun this year.”
Q: What do you do now as a coach in the off-season?
A: “Right now we are doing a lot of recruiting and working our guys out. Our guys are getting prepared for final exams here in a couple of weeks and they will go home for a little bit in the summer. We are scheduling (for next season), and obviously I will be on the road quite a bit here in April.”
Q: So who do you think will win the NCAA Tournament this weekend?
A: “I think this may be as balanced a Final Four as there is. If you look at the four teams, Carolina probably has the most talent, but all four teams are playing pretty well.”
Q: Would you ever consider making the jump yourself to the NBA coaching ranks, or are you satisfied with your current position at Florida?
A: “I have often said that the thing that is attractive about the NBA is that it is all basketball. The unfortunate part sometimes in college is that you don’t get a chance to coach as much as you would like, and you don’t get a chance to be on the floor as much you like. That is the thing that is hard – really for guys, we only get to spend so many hours a week and that is it. At the NBA it is all basketball, only basketball, and that is the thing that is appealing. I am very happy at Florida, very happy in college, and I feel very fortunate to be the coach at Florida. Right now, if that was something that happened down the road, then fine, but right now I very excited where I am at.”
Melanie Curtsinger is an intern in the Orlando Magic's Communications Department.
