Talk About a Coach With the Most

How did Billy Donovan lead the Florida basketball team past most of the experts and into Monday night’s NCAA title game?

With intensity.

Take his recruiting tactics with sophomore Mike Miller, for example. Rather than simply recruiting Miller, Donovan became the player’s new best friend.

“Twenty-four straight days” of calling and cajoling, Donovan told the Washington Post’s William Gildea. “If you’ve got 24 hours, I’m going to use all 24 hours. If other coaches want to go in and use two hours on a home visit, that’s your prerogative. But don’t criticize me because I’m taking advantage of every single minute.”

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Trivia time: The $330-million Pacific Bell Park, new home of the San Francisco Giants, is the first privately financed baseball park since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. What was the cost of Dodger Stadium?

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Stormy past: Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo grew up in Iron Mountain, a bleak mining town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“We have 11 months of winter,” he told the Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon, “and one month of poor sledding.”

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Stormy career: Writes Mark Kriegel in the New York Daily News:

“If former POW John McCain can overcome his torture at the hands of the Viet Cong to become a United States senator and a voice on the national political scene, then there’s got to be hope for some of Bobby Knight’s ex-players too.”

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Don’t bet on it: Nick Canepa in the San Diego Union Tribune:

“If the Clippers played college basketball--and I understand they turned down the 64th seed--they might have gone a long way in this NCAA basketball tournament.”

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Hard to accept: LaVall Jordan, a junior guard from Butler, missed two chances to give his school an upset of Florida in the first round of the tournament. The Bulldogs’ leading scorer missed a 12-foot jump shot as regulation time expired, then missed two free throws with eight seconds left in overtime.

He then watched helplessly as Miller drove the lane and made a running floater as time expired, giving the Gators their 69-68 victory.

“Every time I watch the replay, I still think it’s not going to go in,” Jordan said of Miller’s shot. “But every time, it does.”

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The natural: Gary Shelton in the St. Petersburg Times:

“Before I believe the XFL is a legitimate football league, I just have to see how high Dennis Rodman goes in its first draft.”

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Score bored: Coach Ron Wilson of the Washington Capitals was fed up with the MCI Center scoreboard.

The problem? It was alternating basketball results with hockey scores.

On Saturday, as a result of Wilson’s complaint, nothing but hockey results were shown, keeping the NCAA’s Final Four off the scoreboard.

There was one hockey score, however, Wilson would have preferred not to see up there. His team lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3.

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Trivia answer: $18 million.

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And finally: Kristin Helgeson has become the newest basketball guru.

The 29-year-old Atlanta graphics designer was the only person among 590,000 to pick each of the Final Four teams in a contest conducted by ESPN.com. She says she’s not a huge sports fan and prefers football and hockey to basketball.

When the Web site identified her as the sole winner--and posted a link to her e-mail address--Helgeson received hundreds of messages. Some wanted help picking stocks or lottery numbers. One proposed marriage.

Another simply said, “You’re a goddess.”