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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Billy Donovan talks to his players during a timeout in Florida’s 61-60 win against Kentucky on March 16 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.</p>

Billy Donovan talks to his players during a timeout in Florida’s 61-60 win against Kentucky on March 16 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

On June 2, ESPN.com began a five-week unveiling of the top-50 coaches in college basketball.

The website revealed No. 50-25 on the first day, and it continued by revealing one additional coach each weekday.

The list started with St. Mary’s Randy Bennett and Baylor’s Scott Drew in a tie for No. 50.

It ended on Thursday with UF’s Billy Donovan on top.

The 49-year-old coach is joined on the list by Kentucky’s John Calipari, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Louisville’s Rick Pitino in the top five.

“After every year’s over with, I always take time and try to evaluate myself, our team,” Donovan said after Florida’s 63-53 loss to UConn in the Final Four on April 5. “The number one question I ask myself every year is, did our team play as close as possible to their potential? Maybe more so than any team that I’ve coached based on the talent level, we played way beyond our potential as a team.”

The honor comes after Donovan led the Gators to a 36-3 overall record last season, which included a 30-game win streak and a perfect record against Southeastern Conference opponents.

He led a team that at the start of the season was riddled by injuries, illness and suspension to the Final Four for the first time since winning back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.

“I think that we have been a team where the whole has been better than the parts,” Donovan said. “When you break us down individually, we’re not the most talented group, but when you stick us together collectively, we’re really good.”

During that stretch, Donovan saw Casey Prather, who averaged 3.1 points per game in his first three years, explode for 13.8 points per contest in his first year as a starter and his final year at UF.

He saw Scottie Wilbekin, who was suspended on two different occasions during his UF tenure for violation of team rules, mature and become a leader both on and off the court.

He saw Patric Young develop on both sides of the ball, pacing the Gators with 101 offensive rebounds and 41 blocks while setting a career high by averaging 11 points per game in 2014.

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He saw Will Yeguete, the team’s “glue guy,” find his niche in the starting lineup while having career bests in minutes per game (23.3), free throw percentage (.663) and assists per game (1.2).

“Florida is one of the nation’s elite college basketball programs,” ESPN.com writer Eamonn Brennan wrote in the concluding piece of the series. “It is a perennial recruiting destination, a near-constant winner. Florida is, and always will be, a football school. Attendance hasn’t always been great. But Donovan has been so relentlessly good that even the most stubbornly disinterested alum can’t help but sit up and take notice.”

Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126

Billy Donovan talks to his players during a timeout in Florida’s 61-60 win against Kentucky on March 16 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

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