Dodson and his Improving Play

As we know, Dodson has been draining a lot of 3's lately, making it hard for DeAndre Liggins, and Darius Miller to find playing time. His family knows that that talent goes back to his childhood, when he would be in some serious battles with his sister in basketball games.

"We were real competitive growing up in terms of basketball," said Darnell, who is one year younger than Davida, who played three seasons at Radford University.

"She kept me going and I kept her going and staying motivated," he added. "It was in high school gyms around the city with my dad and my sister, doing shooting drills and stuff like that. I could always shoot and, yeah, she (Davida) can shoot a little bit, too."

And when you got two great shooters, it would be a good game in H-O-R-S-E.

"I would beat her," Dodson said with a smile, "She got me one time."

For nearly one month (from the Jan. 2 Louisville game, to the South Carolina game on Jan. 26), Dodson only made 6-of-22 three pointers and never scored more than six points a game. Missing 3's also gave him poor defense, and with DeAndre Liggins improving his play, time was ticking for the sophomore from Greenbelt, MD. What had happened? Why wasn't Dodson being the shooter Kentucky needed?

"He should be the X-factor," coach John Calipari admits. "But I'm not changing. If he goes in the game, goes half speed defensively, or jogs the floor. I'm not playing him."

This is when the 6'-7" Dodson got down to work.

On defense: "Cal told me that he wanted me to play better defense and focus more on it," Dodson said. "He told me to think about it on the defensive end like I do when I am playing offense, with that same aggressive mindset. I have been able to do that and I have been playing more."

On offense: "It's the work I put into it and it's starting to pay off," he said. "I just take shots and see how many I can make. I try to come in before or after practice and put up more shots."

Dodson hit four 3's at the Ole Miss game, Tuesday night.

"That's definitely a confidence booster," he said. "It makes you want to put in that extra work because you see that it's paying off. There is a deeper comfort level. Every time it leaves my hand, I think it's going in."