Billy Donovan Discusses Sweet 16; Watch Now
Monday, March 21, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Florida head coach Billy Donovan met with the media on Monday morning in Gainesville to discuss this Thursday's showdown with BYU in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.
WATCH FULL PRESS CONFERENCE (Free – GatorVision Online)
Press Conference Transcript
“We're certainly excited to play in the next round. We have a little bit of familiarity, at least from last year playing them in the NCAA tournament. I think all the talk about Jimmer Fredette, how talented he is and how good of a player he is---he is arguably one of the best players in the country—it's incredible what he's been able to do. He's really taken his game and his team to a different level than they were a year ago. I have great admiration and respect when someone can do what he did last year, have the publicity and exposure that he did last year, and do it even better this year. The reason that BYU is in the position that they're in and have had the year that they've had is because they're a very good team. They're a better team than they were last year. Jimmer certainly gets a lot of publicity and a lot of exposure, but it's really their whole team. We realize that he's certainly a hard guy to defend and stop, but they've got some other good players. Jackson is a terrific shooter, [Noah] Hartsock is a good low-post player and [Charles] Abouo gives them a solid presence around the basket. It's their whole team collectively, and I don't think you get to this place in the season like they've gotten to with it just being one guy. Fredette is certainly a huge part of it, but there are a lot of other good players too. There's a lot for us to get ready for. We had off yesterday, so I've not really seen our guys. We'll practice today at 3 o'clock, and it gives us at least three pretty solid days to get prepared to play Thursday.”
Q: Can the familiarity play a factor in a team's play?
“As it relates to last year, when you watch tape as a coach, there are things where you have some philosophies and beliefs, style of play-wise, that you can look at. For both teams, that's the same. You can take things from the last game to look at. When it comes to moving forward, we could play better than we did last year in the NCAA tournament and still not beat these guys. Our focus really needs to be on this game. The last game, as it relates to our players, has nothing to do with this at all. In a previous game when there's no carry over, there's nothing for the players to look at when the ball goes up that they're going to take from the game. As you mentioned, they've seen Fredette live at least one time. They know his speed and size, and they know our speed, quickness and size. For us to even think about last year, we have our hands filled worrying about this BYU team this year, because this year, they're better than they were a year ago. That is really the great challenge, because we could play better than we did last year and still not beat these guys.”
Q: How are they better than a year ago?
“Fredette, being a year older, has improved as a player. Like I said, any time you have a player who did what he did last year, and then come back to do it better; I have respect and admiration for that. It's a sign of great focus, a will and a drive to want to get better and be the best player he can be. They're personnel is a year older, and they've played exceptionally well in the NCAA tournament. They're a terrific scoring team, and they'll change up their defenses. With Fredette and their personnel being a year older and a year better, they're just a better team than they were a year ago.”
Q: How much better are the Gators than last year?
“We are better, as a team, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to play better in the game. I made the comment back in November that to get better as a team, we need to start utilizing our bench better. Last year, we were a team that played about six-and-a-half guys. This year, with the addition of Scottie [Wilbekin] and Patric [Young], and Eric Murphy being a year older, we're a little bit of a deeper team than we were a year ago. Both teams are better. That's the challenge right now—can we play better than we did the last time, better enough to beat them?”
Q. How difficult is it to defend Fredette?
“With him, it's a lot of things. I said this about Orlando Johnson when we were playing them. He still got 21 points when our whole focus playing Santa Barbara is to defend Orlando Johnson. This is not any disrespect to Orlando Johnson because I think he is a terrific player, but Fredette is an entirely different type of player. One thing about Johnson that makes him too hard to guard is that fact that he doesn't need screens to get shots off. Fredette is the same way. He can get the ball and you can get people away from him to the point where he can play by himself, in a sense. They'll run some screening action and they'll set some pick and rolls for him, but he has the ability to take the ball and do what he needs to do even if people are away from him. He can shoot deep 3s, get to the lane and get fouled, make mid-range jump shots. If you start running people at him, there are enough personnel on the floor, which makes him a special team in my opinion, because those other guys play to their role and do it effectively. A lot of times when there's screens being set, you can do what I call “help the helper.” The guy coming off the screen can help, and someone can help the guy that's coming off the screen. That way, you can kind of balance the floor. When Fredette's got the ball out there, he's going to make some very difficult shots sometimes. Every game, everyone's trying to stop him and slow him down, but he still gets 33 per game and does it regardless. It's a credit to Fredette, and it's a credit to their coaching staff that they put him in a position that he can be who he really is while the other players can play to their potential and ability. With Fredette doing what he did and getting all the publicity and exposure, there are times when the other players aren't talked about as much, even though they are very good.”
Q: How is Kenny Boynton's ankle and will he be guarding Jimmer Fredette?
“I think that Kenny would start off on him. That's what we did last year. I'm hopeful that we can move some different people on him throughout the course of the game. The first 24 hours after the game were going to be really important. Often in these ankle situations, when you're traveling, you worry about swelling being the problem. That was a major issue, but we were able to get that under control. We fully expect him to play. He's not going to do anything today in practice. He definitely has some discomfort, but not enough to prevent him from playing. I'll find out more as we get into Tuesday and Wednesday when he begins moving. He was concerned yesterday because if his ankle was really swollen on Sunday, it's going to take a lot longer for him to come back. They've been able to really minimize the swelling. As for pain, he's not on crutches or a boot. He's walking freely. Chandler [Parsons] got to a point too where he was walking around and feeling pretty good, but then he got out on the floor and couldn't do any cutting. I'm still a little cautious of where he's at. He's had some ankle problems in the past, and there's a mental hurdle for him to get over about feeling good and not playing in pain. I think we can hopefully get him to that point, but the first 24 hours went very well.”
Q: How can the Gators do a better job of guarding Fredette than they did last year?
“I think we did a pretty good job of defending Fredette last year. I think in regulation, he had 23 points, but then he exploded in overtime and ended up with 37. If you look at the stats sheet, it was really the other players. They made 10 three-point shots last year and Fredette made three of them, including a few big ones in the second overtime when they extended their lead. There were definitely a lot of other players on that roster that played well. The kid that came off the bench last year that came off the bench had 26 points. He was a freshman and played terrific. That's my point—you look at the stats sheet and see Fredette at 37 points, but when you look at the other guys and see that they contributed and did a really nice job for their team. They're better than they were last year because the guys playing alongside Fredette are really good, but with a prolific scorer on their team, certainly he deserves the attention he gets. You don't get to where they're at as a basketball team at this time of year playing in the second weekend of March if you don't have a good basketball team.”
Q: What do you do to keep your team's focus?
“As a coach, I'm like everyone else. When you've got a day off to feel good about yourselves, I'm hoping our older guys, Chandler, Vernon and Alex, understand how hard they've worked to get to this point. The same can be said for BYU's players. I think that they realize the challenge that's ahead of them here on Thursday playing against BYU. We've got to get back to work, and that starts today. I'll have a better feel of where they're at. I'm hopeful that after all that we've been through, there will be a level of maturity that we understand what we're playing for.”
Q: Have you ever had a season where you didn't have one guy foul out?
“I think we're the only team in the country that hasn't had someone foul out all year. Certainly we came very close against UCLA. Vernon and Patric had four, and we were in some serious foul trouble across our front line. I've never had a season where no one fouled out. It's a credit to this team. Their front court made it a physical game, and a lot of it has to do with [Joshua] Smith. We haven't seen a player like him of that size that can move like him or have hands like him. The guy in one game had eight offensive rebounds. If you look at the stat sheet, their record in like 18-1 when the guy has more than four offensive rebounds in a game. We were in some zone situations, but he and Nelson forced us to foul because they were physical at the basket. Our depth helped. Murphy came in and made a big three-point shot, and we were able to work through those last six minutes with Patric and Vernon who had four fouls so we could maintain a front court with no one sitting on the bench because he fouled out.”
Q: What's the key to not having a player foul out all season?
“Depth helps because you can go to somebody else, but we were in a bind in the second half for both Vernon and Pat. UCLA is a physical team at the basket as we've seen this year. I don't know if we've played against anyone that's had two guys at the blocks that are that physical as Nelson and Josh Smith. On the other side, Josh Smith had to play with fouls too. We were doing the same thing to them.”
Q: How has Erving Walker's decision-making improved?
“As the game goes on, there's kind of a cerebral process, you know what's going to be open and what's not. Erving gets better with that as the game goes on, and he makes better decisions. He's the kind of guy that when he gets a crack or a look, he can make things happen. He's got a way of willing the ball in the basket, but there have been some games where he's tried to do too much. His competitiveness has hurt us sometimes. He's got to be careful because there has been so much talk, and he's been a major factor coming down the stretch of that game offensively. The one thing that got lost on the game was Alex Tyus' rebounding the last two minutes of the game. No one talked about Boynton's three that he made, and then Murphy made a three, and then he made a three. There were other plays our teams made that ended up being key plays. Erving can't think that he is going to go all out at the end of the game because he's got the right decision He cannot allow his competitiveness to put our team at a disadvantage. He made some plays that worked out, but he has to understand that going into Thursday, it's a completely different game. He's got to read the situations and not try to take over the game but still take what's available for himself.”
Q: How pleased have you been with Alex Tyus' senior year?
“I'm really proud of him. People hear me talk a lot about Chandler because he was player of the year, but I have an enormous amount of respect for Alex and his attitude. Our offense got frustrated during the Kentucky game. It wasn't going well offensively. Alex was the one guy that never got frustrated to me, even though he had every reason to be frustrated. He was open on a lot of plays, and we missed him. That can be draining emotionally, and he's never done that. He has been all about the team and winning. Because of his athleticism, he can have an impact on the game regardless of if he gets the ball or not. I thought his impact in the game was huge. We were getting killed at the backboard. Erving Walker's points overshadowed all the rebounds. Those plays get lost, but he had a great year. He's given up tracking points for the betterment of our team. He could score those points, but I don't think our team would be where it could be. Alex could get 20 points any given game, but we do need his energy, rebounding and defense. When he does that, he does add a dimension to our front court. With Patric and Vernon in foul trouble, we needed another guy to rebound.”
Q: What makes Kenny Boynton such a good competitor?
“I've seen a lot of great scorers rest and conserve when they're on defense. Whenever you've got a great scorer, there can be some friction with the other four guys when they see someone having complete freedom on offense, but he's not giving it to you on defense. Our team has incredible respect for Kenny, because whether it's Fredette, or John Jenkins or Orlando Johnson, or having to play [Tyler] Honeycutt, our guys know that he will do the best he can defensively. He has great feet and lateral movement. He can play close enough to people to keep them out of the lane. He can really move his feet, and he's got great ability. Because of his feet and his speed, he can get off or around screens. The two best guys I ever coached who did that were Corey Brewer and Justin Hamilton. Those guys had an elusiveness about them on screens. They can avoid and they are difficult to screen, just like Boynton. To be a good defender, you have to be able to do that too. I have great respect for him, and that's why I give him a lot of freedom on the offensive side. We don't need him to be this "defensive stopper." Then the guy who's playing against him never has to worry about him coming off screens and shooting. He can attack on the offensive side of the floor, and the other team's got to account for him. It puts pressure on the other team, but I do think the addition of Scottie and Casey has allowed us to free up Boynton.”
