ARLINGTON, Texas – Florida coach Billy Donovan was asked Thursday if Connecticut guard Shabazz Napier reminds him of himself as a senior at Providence.
“If I reminded myself of him or him of me, I would not be coaching right now,” Donovan said. I would be playing in the NBA right now.”
Donovan reminded members of the Final Four media that it was a different age in college basketball when Donovan helped the Friars to the 1987 Final Four in New Orleans. The college game had just adopted the three-point shot and Rick Pitino, then coach at Providence, was able to adapt to the rule change because of his time in the NBA. Donovan went on to say that Napier is as good as any point guard in the country and that he respects Napier’s competitiveness.
“He’s really smart, he knows when to go, when to pass,” Donovan said. “I think he understands the length and time of a game. He’s played a lot of minutes over his career. He’s been in big events and big venues. But I also think that Kevin [Ollie] really puts him in some very, very unique situations that he can do the things that he does. Because he can beat you with drives, he can beat you with shots, he can beat you from behind the line, and he can also beat you passing the ball.
“I think with the way UConn runs their offense and the situations Kevin’s put them in, it makes it even that much more difficult dealing with him. Because you can run and just go trap him, but he’s going to go find one of those guys, and you’re going to leave someone open for a three. You can try to cover the three and someone’s going to be rolling to the basket.”
Ollie and Donovan agreed that guards are attracting much of the attention in this Final Four.
AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is ready to host the Final Four teams this weekend. (Ken Davis photo)
“But I don’t know if you can just get to this point in time in the season unless you’re really a complete team,” Donovan said.
Ollie said the most important factor is having players who understand their roles.
“Shabazz will be the first person to tell you that he can’t do it without his teammates,” Ollie said. “He can’t do it without Phillip Nolan setting a screen for him to come off a screen and roll and get a wide open look, wide open shot. He can’t get an outlet to start a fast‑break if Amida [Brimah] dooesn’t block a shot or get a crucial rebound like he did in the St. Joe’s game where we were down by three and he got an and‑one. So we rely on the team.”
UConn (30-8) and Florida (36-2) play in the first national semifinal at AT&T Stadium Saturday at 6:09 p.m., followed by Kentucky vs. Wisconsin.
OLLIE’S MOTHER MAKING TRIP
Ollie said Thursday that his mother, Dorothy Ollie, has been cleared to travel to the Final Four. She had Stage Two breast cancer surgery March 24 at the UConn Health Center and watched the East Regional championship game at the coach’s house in Glastonbury.
“Yesterday she got cleared to fly and that was great news,” Ollie said. “I have her back in Connecticut with me and she’s been going through chemo with me at home. And my wife [Stephanie] has done a beautiful job taking care of her and being there so I was able to continue to do my job. . . . [My mom] lives in Plano [Texas] and to come back home before her next surgery has just been a wonderful thing.
“She wanted to come down to Madison Square Garden, but I was like, ‘No, you save up your energy for the Final Four.’ ”
Dorothy and Stephanie Ollie were scheduled to travel Thursday.
GIFFEY TREASURES TIME AS SENIOR
UConn’s Niels Giffey joined Kentucky’s Julius Randle, Wisconsin’s Ben Brust and Florida’s Scottie Wilbekin in a joint players’ press conference Thursday. With so much attention given to this year’s talented freshmen, Giffey was asked about the value of having a “great college career.”
“I think it’s just a great opportunity to grow as a person and a player on a different level, where it’s not all about business, where’s not about money,” Giffey said. “It’s about family and getting together as a group. “I think I had my personal experiences with the [German] national team over the summer, and I talked to the guys and they told me all kind of stories, so I was really happy with all of the decisions that I made to play for four years and not go overseas.”
FINAL FOUR NOTES
Each school was given 90 minutes of practice time on the AT&T Stadium floor Thursday. They will also have the open practice on Friday to adjust to depth perception. “Back in 2011 in Houston, we didn’t have a 90-minute practice like this,” Ollie said. “This really allows our players to see the ball going in. We always want to see that.” . . .This is only the third time since 1979 that two teams seeded seventh or lower (No. 7 UConn and No. 8 Kentucky) reached the Final Four. North Carolina and Wisconsin were both No. 8 seeds in 2000. In 2011, No. 8 Butler and No. 11 VCU reached the semifinals. . . . Kevin Ollie is only the fourth coach to reach the Final Four in his first tournament appearance since expansion to 64 teams in 1985. The other three were: Shaka Smart, VCU, 2011; Bill Guthridge, North Carolina, 1998; and Steve Fisher, Michigan, 1989. . . . UConn holds the best all-time winning percentage (.857) in the Final Four. . . . Three of the four teams rank in the top 40 in scoring defense (No. 3 Florida, No. 37 Wisconsin and No. 38 UConn). . . . Over 30,000 credentials have been issued and more than 10,000 hotel rooms were reserved in conjunction with this Final Four. . . . Creighton’s Doug McDermott was named National Player of the Year and Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall was named National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press Thursday in Arlington.
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