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Reminder: Billy Donovan’s awfully good in March

billy-donovan

Mike Miller

Meaningless stat of the day that you’ve probably heard, but rarely remember: Florida coach Billy Donovan boasts the third-best NCAA tournament win percentage among active coaches.

Donovan (.735) trails only North Carolina’s Roy Williams (.753) and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (.775). That places him ahead of Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (.729), UConn’s Jim Calhoun (.718) and even Butler’s Brad Stevens (.733), who’s coming off back-to-back title game appearances (and 15 games total).

So what’s the point? Just a reminder that Donovan’s damn good in March. If I’m Virginia, I’d awfully scared of the Gators.

Not that Friday’s matchup is a pushover for the West’s No. 7 seed. There are few games in the field of 68 that feature a starker contrast of playing styles than the Gators and Cavs. Florida wants to run, shoot the 3 and features three guys who can create off the dribble and get into the lane. Virginia plays slow and excels at stopping both of those things.

The Gators are confident they’ll solve the “pack-link defense,” but they’ll need those shots to fall.

Otherwise, Donovan will fall behind Izzo in win percentage. (Not that he’ll care. Just sayin’).

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.