Wedding Dream Come True: Whitley kin returns to marry at historic Lincoln house

Comment by kelleyb: Thursday, July 29

angelwings, I'm the bride's mother. Your father certainly did touch my daughter's life. He made a ...read more...

Editorial: Commission acted with blind abandon

Comment by Bily: Thursday, July 29

Loved the title of "Commission acted with blind abandon. After reading this editorial it sounds like...read more...

Landlord fights city hall over $10 fee

Comment by jdonne: Thursday, July 29

lst854 said: i consider this a win on 4 points and a loss ...read more...

» Read recent story comments
» Register for your account

LEXINGTON — Darnell Dodson doesn’t have any problems explaining what he should be able to do best for the Kentucky basketball team this season.

“I can shoot the ball. I think I am a good all-around player, but shooting is definitely the best aspect of my game. I work hard at my shooting, too,” said Dodson, a junior college transfer from Miami-Dade Community College. “Since I started playing, I always had to work on my shooting. I like shooting, but I have tried to develop my game so I am not just one dimensional.

“I think the junior college experienced help me mature as player and person. I learned a lot of things with basketball alone and stuff I needed to improve on. Miami helped prepare me a lot for Kentucky. Life here has been kind of confusing at times since I got here. It wasn’t easy adjusting to a bigger school, but I really like all of my teammates and we have a good, talented team. I really think we can do special things this year.”

Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua says Dodson reminds him of former Auburn star Wesley Person.

“Darnell is a pretty talented player. He can play multiple positions. He is Wesley Person in regard to his shooting. He can really shoot the ball. He has a toughness to him, too. He will go and rebound,” Antigua said. “He’s pretty athletic. He is long. He can handle the ball. He fits perfectly into this offense.

“What position is he? He’s a basketball player. That’s the kind of kids that Coach (John Calipari) likes to recruit. We got out and talk to kids and tell them we just need basketball players. This offense is made for basketball players. You need basketball players at each position that can do multiple things and that’s what we try to recruit players like Darnell.”

Dodson averaged 15.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last year while shooting 76.7 percent at the foul line. In high school, he averaged 29.1 points, 11 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and helped his team reach the Maryland Class AAAA Final Four two straight years. He’s the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,262 points.

Dodson admitted his knew something about UK’s basketball history and tradition when he signed with the Wildcats and understood the many things the Wildcats had accomplished.

“I knew plenty about the basketball, but I didn’t know much about the city or school in general,” he said. “People told me stories when I committed here that Kentucky had a pretty crazy fan base. That really didn’t make a big difference to me. It’s good to have people support you. It makes you want to improve and keep them happy.”

However, he knows keeping Calipari happy is what really counts.

“His offense and playing style suits me and is the big reason I wanted to play here. I wanted to play for one of the best coaches in the country and that along with UK’s history sealed the deal for me here. What he has accomplished made me understand what he could do for me,” Dodson said.

Surprisingly, Dodson insisted he didn’t know a lot about his talented freshman teammates when he signed with the Wildcats as part of the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class.

“I was definitely surprised by how good they were when I got here (in August),” Dodson said. “DeMarcus Cousins is big, but he can put the ball on the floor and create his own shot and his defensive presence really impresses me. Jon Hood is really a good shooter. Eric Bledsoe has surprised me with the way he can penetrate, shoot and run. I had heard some things about John Wall, but even his athleticism has surprised me. I had no idea just how athletic he was. Daniel Orton is a good defensive presence. He can score and has some good offensive moves. We just have a really good team with a lot of talent.”

Dodson knows the team’s leader — and best overall player — is junior Patrick Patterson and he knew that well before he arrived on campus.

“I knew a lot about him. On my visit he was the main on to show me around along with Jodie Meeks. They talked to me a lot when I came. We went to the spring football game and Pat told me how much people loved UK basketball players here,” Dodson said. “He told me about the tradition and that is was something I would want to be part of. He said it would make me work harder and get better, and he was right.”

Dodson played football and some other sports when he was young, but he knew basketball was the sport he wanted to pursue. “I tried to put all I had into basketball,” he said.

Even now he doesn’t do a lot away from basketball. He says he’ll listen to music to relax and take his mind off his worries. “I will sit down and watch TV, and I like to go to the mall when I get a chance,” he said. “But more than anything, I just like to shoot basketball.”

Dodson arrived in August because he had to complete courses to earn his junior college degree in Miami before he could enroll.

“It was a little frustrating because I wanted to be here, but I had work to finish. I knew everything would fall in place and I just had to pace myself and not stress out,” Dodson said. “I knew I was going to make it fine. Coach Cal would call me pretty often to see how I was doing. He would tell me to stay focused and be ready when I got here, so that’s what I did.”

Story comments

No comments on this article yet.

Posting comments on this web site requires free registration.

• Create your account
• Log in to your account