Sweet 16 Preview: BYU v Florida Analysis and Prediction – Can the Gators do what they could not do last year…contain Jimmer?

March 23, 2011 By 1 Comment
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BYU and Florida, who meet in the Sweet 16 tomorrow night, are absolutely no strangers to each other. Just last year they played a memorable first-round game that marked the first nationwide exposure of Jimmer Fredette (speaking of…click here to see a remarkable image of Jimmer), who scored 37 in BYU’s double-overtime win. The game marked BYU’s first tourney win since 1993 while Florida was appearing in the dance for the first time since their consecutive national titles in 2006-07.

Twelve months and one week later, the stakes and aspirations of each squad are much higher with just two wins separating each school from the Final Four and #1 seed Pittsburgh already eliminated. The oddsmakers currently have Florida as a three point pick, and they have the slight advantage of playing in the middle of SEC country. Can Jimmer and the Cougars overcome the odds to advance?

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Filed Under: CBB, March Madness Tagged With: Billy Donovan, byu, byu-florida, Florida, jimmer fredette, sweet 16

The Top 8 Coaches in College Basketball – Who is #1?

March 2, 2010 By 8 Comments
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The NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament is quickly approaching as you no doubt are aware if you’ve spent any time here at MSF lately. This site gets completely overtaken by March Madness and college basketball talk during the third month of the year…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

With that being the case, it seemed more than reasonable that we take a few moments to analyze the most important individuals for the upcoming month. No, I’m not talking about John Wall, Evan Turner, or any of the players; this is college basketball, where any talk of “most important individual” begins and ends with the coaches (who, by way of their massive egos and general self-aggrandizing propensities, wouldn’t have it any other way.)

Today’s discussion will center around one simple question: who is the best active coach in college basketball?

The way I see it, a case can really only be made for eight men to even be in the discussion. I’ll rank all eight, and then you can agree or disagree in the comment section.

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Filed Under: CBB Tagged With: Bill Self, Billy Donovan, CBB, college basketball coaches, jim boeheim, Jim Calhoun, John Calipari, mike krzyzewski, roy williams, Tom Izzo

Here We Go Again: Billy Donovan to Leave Florida for Kentucky – Or Will He?

March 27, 2009 By 8 Comments

Billy Donovan Resigning - Leaving Florida for KentuckyEarlier today, our Link of the Day sent you over to Sparty and Friends for a rumor that Billy Gillespie would be fired at Kentucky and replaced by Billy Donovan.

A report this afternoon at MyFox Orlando is confirming that rumor, and we tip our hats again to Sparty for alerting us to the latest Billy Donovan-to-Kentucky report.

Update 3:50 – Gary Parrish of CBS Sports is now reporting that Billy Donovan WILL NOT leave Florida for Kentucky or any other job. No link for this story yet, but I’ll provide one as soon as it is available.

Update 4:00 – Trolling the Kentucky message boards I just read that Donovan also released a statement saying he was “committed to the University of Florida”. Some still are not convinced that means he won’t end up in Lexington, but the earlier report from MyFox Orlando is certainly appearing less and less true by the minute.

Update 4:15 – Thanks to Sparty for the tip on this one too, the statement released by Donovan in response to the Kentucky rumors. From GatorSports.com:

“In response to the rumors circulating about my interest in other jobs, I wanted to address this as quickly as possible,” Donovan said in a statement. “I am committed to the University of Florida and look forward to continuing to build our program here.”

Hmm…if that’s the entire statement I can’t say it convinces me wholeheartedly that Donovan will be in Gainesville next year. We’ve heard the “I’m committed to XYZ School” utterance before. It is often followed by a press conference soon thereafter introducing said coach at another school. We’ll see. For now, it sounds like Donovan is trying to slow down the rumor mill, but there is no language in that statement (at least that part of it) that suggests he is totally ruling out Kentucky as a possibility.


According to the report at MyFox Orlando, Billy Donovan will resign as Florida’s head basketball coach and subsequently accept the same position at Kentucky. The University of Kentucky has held a 4:00 PM press conference to announce the firing of Billy Gillespie.

The persistent rumor I’ve been reading is that current VCU coach Anthony Grant would be on the short list of replacement candidates for Florida. Grant was also mentioned a few years ago when Donovan had his I will, I won’t about face with the Orlando Magic job after winning his second straight National Championship in Gainesville. Donovan accepted the position, only to back out a few days later.

Since then, Billy Donovan has yet to take Florida back to the NCAA Tournament. After going 68-11 with two National Championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07, the Gators have been 49-23 over the last two seasons. For his career, Billy Donovan has a 345-146 record at Florida and Marshall. He has led the Gators to at least the Sweet 16 four teams, winning the two titles and losing in the 2001 championship game.

There have long been rumors about Kentucky wanting Donovan, in no small part because of Donovan’s connection to former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino. Donovan played for Pitino at Providence, reaching the Final Four in 1987, and was an assistant with Pitino in Lexington from 1989-1994.

Kentucky is obviously hoping that Donovan can help the program return to prominence after fading for the latter part of this decade. Billy Gillespie went 40-26 in two seasons, reaching the NCAA Tournament as an 11 seed last year and missing the tournament this season. By contract, Kentucky was 44-25 in the last two seasons under Tubby Smith, but made the tournament as an 8 seed both seasons and won first round games both seasons.

Kentucky had hoped that Gillespie could help the program add to its 7 National Championships, but Gillespie never seemed to get comfortable in Lexington and fans certainly never got comfortable with him.

If Billy Donovan does indeed accept the Kentucky job, he will be only the 7th head basketball coach at Kentucky since Adolph Rupp took the job in 1931.

Is Kentucky better off with Billy Donovan than Billy Gillespie?

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Filed Under: CBB Tagged With: Billy Donovan, CBB, kentucky wildcats

LOTD: Rumor – Billy Gillespie Out, Billy Donovan Potentially In at Kentucky

March 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment
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UPDATE 3:30 CT: According to a report at MyFox Orlando, Billy Donovan will resign at Florida to accept the head coaching position at Kentucky. A conflicting report from CBS Sports says that Donovan WILL NOT leave Florida for UK or any other job. So who the hell knows.

Billy DonovanMy apologies for not getting many LOTD posts up recently. I’ve been so focused on the NCAA Tournament I have let it slip through the cracks. But I’ve got some great links to share today, the first of which involves some significant rumors coming out of Lexington, KY.


As everyone knows, the Billy Clyde experiment at Kentucky has not gone well. Kentucky missed the NCAA Tournament this year and fans in Lexington have grown weary of Gillespie’s inability return Kentucky to national prominence and some of the personal blunders he has made in his short time there. The conventional wisdom is that Gillespie will be out, perhaps as soon as this afternoon.

What I did find interesting is that, according to our good friends over at Sparty and Friends, Billy Donovan could be the man to replace Gillespie.

Donovan won two national titles at Florida earlier this decade, but the Gators have struggled since then. Because of his position on the Rick Pitino coaching tree, Donovan has always been a rumored candidate in Lexington. Head on over to Sparty and Friends for more:

LOTD: Gillespie Gone: Donovan on his way? — (Sparty and Friends)

Also, while you’re there, take part in the great series of posts Sparty is doing for its Sports Movie Tournament. The following link will take you to the index of all the Sports Movie Tournament posts:

Sparty and Friends Sports Movie Tournament

And now some other links for you before I get back to work:

Taste the Madness — (NCAA Tournament contest sponsored by CokeZero)

Serena Williams is ASSpectacular — (Black Sports Online)

LeBron James: Shades of Kareem — (Josh Q. Public)

30 years ago, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s matchup changed basketball — (Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star)

College Basketball’s Movable Beasts — (Wall Street Journal Sports)

Filed Under: CBB Tagged With: Billy Donovan, kentucky wildcats, links