Billy Donovan Chomps His Team Some More
March 17th, 2008 at 4:07 pmBy Chris
If you remember, last week, Florida coach Billy Donovan ripped his team for their poor play down the stretch of the regular season. Apparently, the message didn’t get through. Now we get word that the Gators have been banned from their state-of-the-art practice facility.
I guess that’s the price you pay when you don’t defend a championship won by the best starting five in recent memory — a starting five that is no longer anywhere near Gainesville.
Coach Billy Donovan, feeling like his players had settled into a state of complacency and entitlement, banned them from Florida’s $12 million facility. He also told them they couldn’t wear any Florida attire.“Probably in some respects the confetti is still falling down around them,” Donovan said Monday. “When you have great success like we’ve had, I think it’s very, very easy to become complacent and to lose sight of how good things are around here and to have an attitude of, ‘I’m at Florida. This is just what’s going to happen.’”
Is Donovan holding his team to too high of a standard? One that can only be matched when four of your starting five are NBA draft picks? Yes, Florida underachieved this year, but I’m not sure what a second-round departure from the NCAA Tournament would do for the growth of Donovan’s young team. If they play with the intensity he’s asking for, making a deep NIT run isn’t that far-fetched.
It also gives him a few more games to prepare his team for next season. Being a one-or-two and done in the NCAAs won’t necessarily provide that same opportunity… Or is this just a case of Donovan being mad his new team couldn’t reproduce what his previous team did? Maybe he got fooled into thinking back-to-back national championships are the norm.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Let me begin by stating, I very rarely hold a coach responsible for a team’s bad play. You hear all the time of this coach’s fault or that coach’s fault, etc. But does the coach tackle the opponents players? Does that coach throw balls and walk batters? Does that coach let their man beat them to the basket for an easy layup? No. Players in college and pros are grown men (and women) and should be treated as such. Held responsible for their actions. But from what I have seen and heard, coach Donovan has gone too far. Did he not realize that his fab four were moving on? Who is responsible for recruiting? He is. Like he built the other players, he should be up for the challenge to build the next contender. But to call his players on the carpet for bad play, in my opinion is wrong. They would not enjoy their next practice…..can you say…..line drills!!
March 18th, 2008 at 10:23 am
It’s also his primary job to motivate his players. If he has to resort to these kinds of antics AFTER the season is over, what’s the point? I understand working towards next season, but still, perhaps Donovan needs to consider himself when trying to figure out what’s wrong with his team next time.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Interesting…seems like I read those comments somewhere before. Different styles of saying it I guess. Oh yeah Billy is still a GAYTOR.