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| Donnie Carson |
Idaho State men's basketball player Donnie Carson will sit down to chat with fans live on Monday, Feb. 16 at 11:45 a.m. He will hang out for 30 minutes, or as long as there are questions, whichever comes first. We've already received a couple of questions, but keep 'em coming! You can submit questions for Donnie now through the beginning of the chat. See you there!
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| Mitch Worthington: You can post questions for Donnie from right now until the chat goes live sometime on Monday. Again, check back Sunday and early Monday for the exact start time of the chat (Donnie is a busy man.. even with no school Monday, he still had to "check his schedule" first). See ya Monday! |
| Mitch Worthington: Ok, the time for the chat is 11:45 a.m... about 13 hours from now. Remember, the questions can be submitted anytime between now and the end of the chat. Get those in, and we'll see you tomorrow. |
| Mitch Worthington: About an hour before the chat starts.. have a couple questions already, but go ahead and send us more. You can do that anytime before the chat starts, up through the end of the chat. Thanks! |
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| Nicholas Rhodes (Vienna, Austria): Why is Nicholas Rhodes your favorite ISU big man of all time? and why? dont skip on the details on how much he has influenced your life. |
| Mitch Worthington: Nick, you crack me up |
| Donnie Carson: I guess Nick Rhodes is one of the most caring, kindest, largest guys I know. He's a real funny guy and riot to be around. One of the guys you could always look toward to cheer you up when you're having a bad day. He's influenced my life -- I can't say anything about that. |
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| Sawtooth: Thanks for doing this, Donnie! If ISU were to schedule a game in Michigan next year, who would you want it to be against? Michigan? Michigan State? Oakland? |
| Donnie Carson: It'd have to be either Michigan or Central Michigan. There's a couple guys from my AAU team on Michigan. It'd be fun to play against those again. it'd be fun to play those guys again. I'd like to play Central, because all my friends from high school went to Central, I bet I could get a pretty good crowd there. Not that I couldn't against Michigan. That's my home city. |
| Mitch Worthington: Since I'm a reporter... gonna ask one. How does it feel to throw down a massive dunk like you did the other night? |
| Donnie Carson: Ever sicne I was in 8th grade, I could dunk and I was the only one that could do that. It feels good to get the crowd fired up and be able to do whatever I can to get the crowd fired up. |
| Mitch Worthington: How did that non-conference schedule get you guys prepared for the season? |
| Donnie Carson: We didn't really get blown out by too many people. Those teams, some of them are ranked. It got us prepared to be competitive and stick it out through rough games. Just pretty much got us ready in al aspects of the game. |
| Donnie Carson: I like it this way. I'd rather play guys that like with a bad pre-conference record, instead of beating up on DII schools and being unprepared when conference comes around. There's nothing that would surprise us now. We play some of the best guards and some of the best big men. It's not like we're going to see any surprises in conference. |
| Mitch Worthington: Compare the weather from Detroit to Idaho. |
| Donnie Carson: The weather is pretty similar. The difference is the humidity. In Detroit it's more humid. You go home for summer and sit around and sweat all year. We got more snow in Detroit this year than we did here. |
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| Sawtooth: What do you like best about Pocatello and Idaho? What do you like which you think the locals take for granted? |
| Donnie Carson: The people here are really nice. Back in Detroit.. people here will hold doors for you. You can be five steps away and they'll hold it for you. In Detroit, they'll slam it in your face as quickly as they'll hold it for you. People here are nice and generally want to help you in situation. |
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| Ted in Aberdeen: What's the biggest change in the non-conference season to the conference one for you? |
| Donnie Carson: THe biggest change... the level of competition, I guess. When you play non-conference, you're playing up. Have to be play pretty well to knock off some of the Arizona States. At conference, back on a level playing field. There's not a team that we can't beat on any given night. That's the biggest difference. |
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| Mark (Chubbuck): Can you guys get to the big dance? Does the tea feel good after following the Portland win with a good showing against Eastern? |
| Donnie Carson: Yeah, we can definitely get to the NCAA Tournament. The Big Sky season, it matters to get seeding in the conference tournament, but the winner of the tournament is the only one going to the NCAAs. The regular season is a preliminary, for seedings. It's definitely possible to make it to the NCAA TOurnament. |
| Donnie Carson: It feels great to follow that big win with another win. It always feels good to win at home. Give the people a reason to come back the next game. Hopefully we can salvage the rest of our home games, even though we lost the one here against Weber that we dshould ahve won. Hopefully we can win out here and take care of busines on the road and get a nice seed in the Big SKy. |
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| A female: Is it true the you did not have a Valentine's Day date? |
| Donnie Carson: Yes, it's true. I've kinda been trying to lay low with the love life, focus on basketball and finish out the season before I get into any relationships. |
| Donnie Carson: Plus, I try to break up with the girlfriends around Valentine's Day and Christmas, so I can save some money. Just kiddin'. |
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| Ted in Aberdeen: Following up, I think even you would say you have inconsisent in conference....why do byou think that is? |
| Donnie Carson: It's confidence level. It's all a head game with me. I have the skill level and the athletic ability. it comes down to do I feel confident enough to go out there and try it. It's a mental thing. |
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| Simon the Enforcer (Boise, ID): What do you think is the reason for your team's struggles on the road? At home we are nearly lights out, on the road...not so much. |
| Donnie Carson: I really haven't thought about that. it's a hard question. if we can figure that question out, we pretty much would have a perfect season. |
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| Sawtooth: We look forward to your senior season, Donnie! Have you thought about what you're going to do after graduation? Play pro ball? |
| Donnie Carson: I haven't thought about it. I'm focusing on getting good grades and producing on the basketball court. I'll think of those things when I have to. I don't know what I'm going to do with my degree yet (majoring in marketing). Hopefully a good education will open some doors. |
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| Egriz Guy: You guys are scary at times and seem like a team everyone wants to avoid. Do you consider that a good thing? |
| Donnie Carson: I think being scary is a plus. it's good to have the intimidation factor, but when we don't come out and play as hard we can, that goes down the drain. You have the intimidation and you back it up with skill level, then you're golden. But empty intimidation only lasts for the first five minutes. |
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| Andrew (Poky): If you guys finish the season by winning out, you could go to the tournament maybe as the hottest team in the league ... which team do you want to play the most in the tournament, or would you rather not say. |
| Donnie Carson: I'd like to get Weber. I feel like they got lucky on a couple nights, caught us slipping. I'd love to get those guys back. That's the only team we haven't beat that we've played twice, so we owe them one. |
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| Frank (Pocatello): Is it true that your publicity guy Frank is the best in the business and your favorite guy ever? |
| Mitch Worthington: Sure is. Except when he makes fun of my shots. |
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| Andrew (Poky): Along Sawtooth's lines...how do you feel about your classes at ISU? Professors good? Do they work with you on those long road trips? Also, what was it like having Amorrow back? |
| Donnie Carson: Most of the teachers are lenient about the assignments, they understand being on the road is grueling. Traveling and playing all the road games, managing basketball life and school life can be tough. I feel like as long as I can talk to them beforehand, they're fair. When you try to use it as an excuse, that's when they put their foot down. Being a basketball player shouldn't be an excuse to not do assignments. |
| Donnie Carson: It felt good to have Amorrow back. He's a leader on this team. People look up to him for guidance. It's like having a member of our family back, I would say. |
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| Andrew (Poky): How does the team travel? I mean, are the hotels nice ... what kind of places do you eat at? |
| Donnie Carson: This is way better than i expected. We always stay at the best hotels. Coach O'Brien treats us really well on the trips. He's not a penny-pincher. We went to a hotel once, he didn't like it, so we checked out of that place immediately and went to another really nice hotel. We always go out for good meals. Texas Roadhouse or Outback. They treat us really well on the road. We all appreciate that. |
| Mitch Worthington: All right.. thanks to everyone who showed up with the relatively short notice. Donnie has practice at 1 p.m., so we let him get out of here. Keep it tuned here.. we may do a couple more of these before the season is over. |
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| Frank (Pocatello): I'll assume since Donnie didn't answer me what his true feelings are....I see how he is.... |
| Mitch Worthington: He did answer... I just posted it under my name. |
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