Mark McLeod, ESPN Radio

The following are quotes from Florida head coach Billy Donovan from today's press conference. The Gators defeated LSU on Saturday. Florida swill travel to Oxford to face Ole Miss on Thursday night and host Mississippi State on next weekend.

On preparing for the upcoming week:

“I think that you try to focus on what is in front of you. What is in front of us right now is three days to get prepared to play Ole Miss, and that’s going to take all of our attention. I always think it is difficult for a team to start incorporating things inside of practice for a team you are playing the following game, so we really stayed away from doing that. There will be a time when you can get their full and undivided attention. I think that when you can make your preparation somewhat simple for those guys and focus on the key ingredients that are going to go into playing Ole Miss. When that game is over with, there will be some time, although it’s is quick, to be prepared to play Mississippi State.”

On rebounding:

“I think that it is very similar with what we had to face with LSU, with Storm Warren and Justin Hamilton and Malcolm White, their front course pieces – they are a very good rebounding team. I think our guys understand that that has to be the focus, game-in and game-out. There were times during the course of the season that they did a really, really good job with it, and then maybe the last five to seven games we’ve been just OK.

“Obviously, you always want a rebounding margin to be in your favor. But if you’re not going to win the rebounding battle, you don’t want it to be such a differential that you’re put at an extreme disadvantage in the game. And we’ve been fortunate for the most part this year that that has not happened this year. Maybe sometimes when we were outrebounded, we were able to overcome it and it wasn’t that much of a deficit that it really just hampered us to having the opportunity to win.”

On changes in how opponents defend against UF since the start of SEC play:

“I think that Kenny (Boynton) has shot the ball very well this year. I am pleased with the progress that he has made over the past couple of years. His freshman year, I thought that he was just a one-dimensional guy, just a deep three-point shooter. But he’s added different elements to his game his sophomore and now his junior year. He’s driving to the basket, he’s shooting pull-up jump shots, he’s getting fouled, he’s getting to the free-throw line, his shooting percentage is much higher.

“But every team is going to guard you a little bit differently. I thought Erving Walker had some pretty good looks in the game against LSU, as did Kenny Boynton. They didn’t go down. I think maybe in past years, Kenny would have missed a few shots like that, he could have gotten discouraged. I think he understands the length of how long the game is. He’s kept his composure and he’s played through a lot of those tough shooting nights. And he hasn’t had a lot of them. As long as he’s taking good shots – and the shots that he took against LSU were good.

“I thought Erving Walker had good shots, they just didn’t go down. I have confidence in Erving. I think he’s stayed the course and made some big shots late for us. He got fouled, made free-throws, runner in the lane, made a three. As long as our guys are taking good shots – there are going to be nights where you don’t shoot the ball well. I don’t know if I see anything necessarily different (on defense) that these guys have not seen before. I think it’s just a matter of making good decisions.”

On the pace at the three-point line:

“It all varies. If someone asks me how many three-point shots do you want to take a game – clearly the last few years, we weren’t a great shooting team. I would consider us an average shooting team, I think our percentages reflected that. But we have better shooters now. Kenny and Erving coming back, and then you add Brad Beal, Mike Rosario and Erik Murphy. It really opens up some different things for our team.

“Alex Tyus, his junior and senior year, or even his entire career, he was never a real three-point shooter; he was a great midrange shooter. So, Erik does add a different element to our team, where we can have four three-point shooters on the floor at one time. I’m not so sure that we really had that the last couple of years. We played a little bit differently offensively than we are right now, because I think we’ve got to try to take advantage of the way we try and spread the floor and space the floor, which creates better opportunities for us to feed Patric (Young) and creates better opportunities to drive the ball.”

On the Thursday-Saturday schedule:

“This all started about three years ago in spring meetings. All the coaches felt like the opportunity to have this contract with ESPN was a great thing. Our league was pretty much a Tuesday-Wednesday-Saturday league for a long time. The team that played on Tuesday was generally the Super Tuesday game on ESPN. And then maybe some different regional networks or national TV on the weekend. It was pretty much a three-day league. The commissioner let us all understand, that in order to do this with ESPN, there is going to have to be some consideration into playing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Really, the only two days that are somewhat off limits to our league are Monday and Friday. Pretty much every other day, we’re going to play. Since I’ve been in the league, this is the first time we’ve never had a Wednesday game. We don’t play one game on Wednesday, that mid-week game – which is really surprising, but it’s also good because you’re playing on TV.

“When all this started, the biggest thing that everybody talked about was how do we really expose and pump up SEC in basketball? One was a contract with ESPN. And how do we get more teams into the NCAA tournament? I think everybody was on the same page – that we all have different battles that we’re dealing with in terms of scheduling outside of our conference, trying to get those home-and-home and those neutral-site games. Everybody’s dealing with a different set of elements to try and get those games. So I think we all felt like there was some give-and-take with that. My problem with it is that if you want to get more teams into the NCAA Tournament, and you want to do more with your non-conference schedule, our league should not be putting teams at a disadvantage, competitively. And there are some teams in our league that are put at a disadvantage, competitively. And I don’t think that that’s right to the players or to the teams that are playing. I think we all agree that we need to play Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday. We’ve done it, but I think everybody needs to do it. And the league needs to understand what those competitive disadvantages potentially are.

“Just using as an example – Alabama has to play a game at nine on Thursday night, and then at noon on Saturday. That should never happen. Not the Thursday-Saturday, we’re OK with that. But there’s got to be some level of consideration taken into the fact that these guys just played at 9 p.m., then they’ve got to go to school on Friday, then they have to leave Friday and play at noon – pretty much wake up, eat and play the game. Give them an opportunity and play the game at 6, 7 or 8 at night. If you’re trying to get more teams into the NCAA Tournament, don’t put the teams inside your league into a competitive disadvantage. That’s my only problem with it, where teams are at a competitive disadvantage.

“I have a lot of confidence in Mike Slive, and (Mark) Whitworth who does the scheduling. All those guys are great guys and all of this is elusive and we’re all trying to figure it out. But it’s the same thing with Alabama football a year ago. Alabama wins a national championship in football, then all of sudden they have to play six straight games against teams that had basically two weeks off, that are laying in the weeds getting ready to prepare for them. I don’t know if it was oversight or what, but that’s not going to happen anymore. I think that there are probably a lot of things going on inside of our league, with this whole contract being somewhat new, that I think our league will figure out as time goes on, and I have confidence that they will.

“But if we’re going to talk about trying to get more teams in the league (into the NCAA Tournament), don’t put teams in a situation where one team’s got a huge advantage. I’ve heard the argument that it’s like that in the NCAA Tournament, that you have to play Thursday-Saturday or Friday-Sunday. Great, but you know what? So does the other team you’re playing against. And that’s where I think we have to figure out a better way to make it work. And our schedule is what it is. We’ve done this now for a few years. There are no excuses for us. We have to go out and play games, and the schedule is set to stay and this is the hand we’re dealing with – we have to do the best job we can preparing and getting ready to play.”

On scheduling:

“There has to be some level of balance there. I think that the league needs to look at those situations where there’s a clear distinct advantage. I think there’s an advantage when there’s a team playing a late night game on Thursday night and there should be some rule put in that you’re not going to play Saturday until after four or five o’clock. I’m using Alabama as an example because it recently happened but I’m sure there is going to be some similar situations. We’re in a similar situation this weekend, playing a one-thirty game and having to play on the road. I think we are all under the understanding there is going to be some level of sacrifice that we have to make inside of our schedule to do that but I think it needs to be really leveled out across the board and fair for everyone”

On Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday scheduling:

“There needs to be some level of balance. I think when you have a new contract, which is great for the league and I think the commissioner has done a great job – being on the selection committee, he’s done a great job putting this ESPN package together and he’s done a great job promoting basketball inside our league – all those things have been great, but either everyone has to go Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday or it has to be a rotating thing every other year, but everyone should be under those same elements. There should not be a huge discrepancy in those kind of games, in my opinion, when you have teams playing three for four times a year on Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday, that just shouldn’t happen, in my opinion.”

On being 12-1 in those situations giving him credibility on the scheduling issue:

“I don’t know about that but I think the biggest thing about what I said earlier is that it is what it is. We have no excuses. This is when we need to play and this is when the games are playing and you know what? We need to figure out a way to get ourselves prepared to play at Ole Miss and get ourselves prepared to play on Saturday against Mississippi State. I’ve never believed in making excuses.  In the spring meetings when we talked about what is best for the entire league, I’m not speaking about in terms of just Florida, I’m speaking in terms of every school in our league – Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Georgia, South Carolina – what is best for everybody and what benefits everybody and how is the balance and all that stuff. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t think there should be a competitive disadvantage. I don’t know if there is or isn’t a competitive disadvantage, but I do know that if you have to play a Thursday game, to get your guys back preparation-wise, it should be a little bit later in the day on Saturday. That’s just my opinion.”

“I think it’s something our league will look at. Like I said before, it’s like the Alabama situation a year ago. I’m sure they probably didn’t even recognize that or realize that, but that was probably unfair to Alabama’s football team being ranked number one in the country going into the season after winning a national championship and now they have a bull’s-eye on their back and they have six teams they’re playing against, half their schedule, has two weeks off. That’s a heck of a bind to be put in. That was unfair to them and they just won a national championship. I guarantee that’s not going to happen anymore. I think this is something our league will take a look at and get it corrected. I don’t necessarily think there’s favoritism, but I just don’t know if it’s just an oversight or what it is but it’s something we need to address.”

On scheduling being addressed at the SEC Meetings last June:

“We talked a little bit about what was best for our league a couple years ago, when Commissioner Slive brought the whole ESPN contract to us, that we needed to agree to play on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays and maybe a Sunday game and Wednesday games and we all agreed that this was best for the league. We talked about going to one division and not having an East and a West. Everybody felt that this was the best for our league and everything has always been, and I’ve been in the league for a long time, you want what’s best for the league.

“There are times when you’re listening to Rick Stansbury talk and listening to Andy Kennedy talk and they’re trying to do some things with their nonconference schedules that are challenging and we are trying to figure out, how do we pick up the slack as a league to help each other? I think that’s what it’s always been about because the league is bigger than one institution. That’s what makes this great, in my opinion. Everyone is going to have to make a level of sacrifice.”

On Bradley Beal’s maturation process:

“I think that he has matured in some ways. I think what ends up happening to a player like Brad a lot of the time, is that when you’re a talented, offensive player and you’re on the court, a lot of the time your scoring has a direct reflection on the outcome of the game when you’re in high school when your team needs to score. Sometimes your identity is wrapped up in scoring. I think he is starting to figure out right now that there is so much more that he can do beyond that.

“He has a better feeling and understanding of when and where shots are coming from and for him. I don’t know if he really ever felt comfortable with that and now I think he’s getting better at that. He’s understanding when and when not to be aggressive. He’s not allowing some missed shots or plays that maybe don’t go his way to affect him on the next play, and I think that was some of the stuff when he gets an open look and then gets down on himself. He doesn’t realize that there’s another play, another shot coming. I have noticed a maturation process in him for the better – for his game and for our team.

“Part of what makes him really good is that old saying – that sometimes your greatest strength is your greatest weakness. His greatest strength is that he holds himself accountable and has a high level of standards set for himself of how he wants to play. Sometimes when those standards aren’t met he can get down on himself and he becomes his own worst enemy. He has to learn how to persevere and fight. I think he is doing a better job of that now.”

On winning three conference games in a row:

“I think our guys have done a better job of preparing in practice. That has been the difference the last couple of weeks. There has been a real focus level, and that it has been good for our team. We had a really good practice on Friday going into the LSU game.

“I understand that practice at this time of year can be tedious and long – the kids are sore and tired. But I think mature teams, mature players understand the value of it as it relates to preparation, scouting and our team getting better. I think our guys have gotten better in the last couple weeks of embracing that. I think we need to grow up maturity-wise as a team to understand that in a lot of ways, the way you practice, the way you focus, the way you prepare has a direct reflection a lot of the time on how you play in the game.

“That’s not to sit here and say that we have had some great practices and gone in a game and not played well. We have had some really, really bad practices, gone in and played well, and not played well. It’s all about getting those guys collectively focused on what they need to do. I think lately in practice they have been focused on what we need to get done throughout the course of the day.”

On Patric Young’s ankle:

“I think he’s fine now. I don’t expect him to miss practice or anything. It could flare up. Patric has never really had a sprained ankle, so he’s never dealt with this before. It’s all new to him. There may be some discomfort in his foot, but certainly, we’re never going to put a player in a situation where they can hurt themselves by being out on the court. I think the doctor and the MRI really clearly show that he’s not in jeopardy of that happening – that he is OK, and that he may have to deal with some periodic discomfort. He has to work his way through it. Sometimes when you get injuries on a part of a body that has never been injured before, it is a little different feeling.”

On Chandler Parson’s attitude from Florida into the NBA:

“I have always said this about Chandler – he was one of the hardest working players that I have ever coached. He always gave me a great effort when he was on the floor. I never had a problem with his energy; I never had a problem with him taking himself to the extreme of being exhausted. I think some of his issues were that when he was younger, I think that he thought that it was going to be a lot easier, and things were just going to happen.

“I think what humbled him was how hard, how competitive and how many other good players there are. I think Chandler has been able to hang his hat on the fact that he is going to be a hard worker, a great worker. He has grown in a lot of ways. I really believe this – that in anything in life, your greatest struggles often provide the greatest opportunity for growth. His sophomore year, the struggle that he went through, probably in my opinion was probably that it provided more growth for him than his last two years here.

“He’s obviously getting a great opportunity right now and making the most of it. Like he said, just remaining humble, trying to learn and get better and understanding that he’s still a rookie and there’s a long way to go and being able to come back in the next day, thinking about ways to get better instead of thinking of how he has arrived. Some of the things that he has gone through have probably helped him in that aspect.”

On Parsons’ size and versatility:

“I think the one thing that is really underrated about Chandler is that he is a great offensive rebounder – that is the first thing with his size. The thing about it is that he makes the effort to go to the glass. There are a lot of guys that can get good rebounds, but simply don’t make the effort.  He makes great effort to grab the offensive rebound.

“I think Chandler is not the quickest guy foot-wise, but he has learned positioning, to use his length and to create a little space, but I don’t think there wasn’t any part of chandler’s game that when I was coaching him, he wasn’t willing to try and work on and get better at. Even when he struggled shooting the ball from the free-throw line, he was always in there practicing, and trying to figure it out. I would say that he has a great drive and persistency, that when things are not going well, to figure it out. He has the internal drive to do that, and that has always been a good thing that he has had. It has allowed him to deal with adversity and still have fun and get better at it.”

On needing team maturity:

“For instance, in the LSU game, we were up by 14 points and were making a little run in the second half and we have a mental lapse after Ralston Turner missed back-to-back free throws and we let them rebound the ball and put it back in. Understanding that, right now, their guy just missed one and what we can’t let happen is let them get the ball. We’ve got to get this rebound. I think understanding, maturity-wise, that when you’re on a run don’t do things to break your own momentum – quick shots, not blocking out, just a lack of focus. I think that’s what happens a lot of times.

“The best answer I can give as to what a mature team looks like is five guys collectively moving from each play together without any of them worrying about what just happened, and what’s getting ready to happen, and being able to play with what’s going on right now. If you have one guy who’s upset because he missed two free throws and he’s running back on defense and he’s not tuned into what’s going on, you’re going to break down. One guy misses a jump hook in the lane and all of a sudden he’s worried about that and he doesn’t block out. One guy misses a three-point shot, comes back down the floor and gets screened and we give up a three. Those are things that, maturity-wise, you have to realize that you’re not getting that play back and that you’re better off moving to the next one right now collectively as a group. Those are minor little things that should never bother you because you know what, if those guys miss a free throw or miss a shot or turn the ball over, it’s not the first time they’ve done it and it will not be the last. What compounds it is when they aren’t in the right frame of mind going into the next play and then something else bad happens. That’s what I mean by us maturing and being able to handle adversity and confrontation in the game and not let our minds get taken to places they don’t need to be at.”

On whether he thinks the league is under pressure to put Kentucky on Tuesdays and Saturdays with the ESPN contract:

“I think all of our conference games are on ESPN in some form, so I’m sure they want them on there. Kentucky, in this league, has always been a measuring stick and a bar for basketball. They’ve obviously got a lot of national championships, a lot of league titles, they’ve got a lot of fan support, a lot of times in the SEC Tournament they carry the ticket in a lot of ways, so I think Kentucky as a program is very valuable and important to our league and their success is important to our league. I’m sure ESPN wants to do those things, but ESPN also has a Thursday night game too, they also have Saturday games and Tuesday games, they’re having games all over the place.

“I just think what needs to happen inside our league is that there has to be an awareness right now of whoever is playing – not just Kentucky, any team – if one team, any team in the league, has to play four times during the course of the schedule Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday and somebody else is doing it once, no times, two times, that’s not right. That should not be done. There needs to be a level of balance where we’ve all got to chip in and do that part.

“I would say the same thing too if we didn’t have to play Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday and everybody else in the league had to do it. I would say that’s not right, we need to do that. I understand that TV dictates a lot of that stuff, but I think there is a way that our league can do it. I think that since it’s so new and since we made adjustments and changes. I think things will get figured out as time goes on. That’s what I think will happen.”

On if he thinks it’s a coincidence that Kentucky hasn’t had Thursday-Saturday games the past few years:

“I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not. You’d probably have to ask the league. I don’t know that. All I’m saying right now is that, whether it’s a coincidence or not, there needs to be a level of balance as to what everybody else is doing.

“If Florida didn’t play any Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday games the whole entire year, next year they have to play two. And you know what, Auburn did it three times, then they don’t have to do any next year. I think it has to be that kind of thing where we work it out.

“I’ll tell you what I don’t think our guys mind. I think our guys like playing games, all players like playing games. We as coaches probably get more paranoid in terms of preparation time and practice time, getting your team ready to play. I think that when the game is over with Thursday against Ole Miss, we need to get prepared and ready to play as quickly as we can to play Mississippi State. We’ve had to do this before, this is not foreign to me or to our team. We’ve had to do it so I don’t think there is any reason for excuses for us.

“I think the question posed to me as to how do I feel inside of our league when there is an imbalance. My thing right now is that if our league is trying to position itself to get as many teams into the NCAA Tournament as possible, don’t put teams in a competitive disadvantage and not give or take care of your own. I don’t know if there is a way. I can sit here and talk about all the problems, but you need people who are going to come up with solutions. I don’t know what the solution is. That’s why I’m not saying what the solution is. I just know our league well enough and Commissioner Slive and C.M. Newton and Mark Whitworth, who does the scheduling, that it is going to get addressed and they are going to look at it and figure out how to balance it somehow. I really believe that part of it.”

On avoiding “funks”:

“I think that you’re always trying to do that but I also think too that a guy like Patric Young is in a different role, as is Erik Murphy, as is Will Yeguete, as is Brad Beal. Scottie (Wilbekin) has pretty much come off the bench like he always has. Cody Larson in the limited minutes he’s played this is his first time playing, so to speak. Outside of Boynton and Walker it’s all a little bit new for our basketball team. Those are things that they have to learn, they have to get better at. I’ve said this before, as much as I want to expedite that process sometimes it takes a little bit of time, but I do see growth in our team this year. We have good guys who care and want to have an opportunity to go out there and compete and win and I think sometimes you can care so much that you can get into those funks that you talk about. It just requires a maturity to pull yourself out of it and fight through it.”