In a few minutes, Donnie Jones would walk on the floor of the RCA Dome and coach in the biggest basketball game of his life. He worked for that moment as teen-ager in West Virginia who ran his own camps, as a point guard at Pikeville (Ky.) College and 18 seasons as an assistant.
Jones, an assistant coach at Florida, made a phone call before getting on the bus to the stadium in Indianapolis for 2006 NCAA championship game.
“JB” needed a phone call from Jones, 19 years after they played together on a memorable Pikeville team, 19 years after they made midnight runs to the SuperAmerica convenience store for chocolate milk and Little Debbie cakes to fuel studying for a business management test.