John Clay: Miller, Dodson could fill key roles in post-season

John Clay / Herald-Leader Sports Columnist

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Wall saves the day as Cats beat Tide 73-67
Wall saves the day as Cats beat Tide 73-67

NASHVILLE — Quit obsessing about the shaky three-point shooting, Kentucky Coach John Calipari lectured reporters repeatedly this season. UK's fortunes rest with defense and rebounding.
A 73-67 victory over Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday showed that when the Cats defend and rebound like they shoot three-pointers, it helps to have John Wall.
"John makes the game a whole lot easier," big man DeMarcus Cousins said of his fellow freshman. "When the ball's in his hands, you know something fantastic is going to happen."
UK holds on for 74-66 win over Florida
UK holds on for 74-66 win over Florida

Kentucky completed its Southeastern Conference regular-season championship run in style on Sunday. That meant this UK team's signature style of building a lead, then having the opponent rally and create the need for clutch plays to avoid Cat-astrophe.
In other words, Kentucky got back on the seesaw of momentum. UK built an 18-point lead in the first half, then found itself having to outperform Florida in the final five minutes to win 74-66.
Freshman John Wall, who finished the regular season like he began it by making the big plays, saw trouble in continuingly being put in a position to save the day.
Kentucky-W. Virginia matchups
Kentucky-W. Virginia matchups

POINT GUARD
West Virginia doesn't really have a point guard, or at least not since Darryl "Truck" Bryant broke his right foot in practice on Tuesday. Bob Huggins started 6-foot-4 guard Casey Mitchell in place of Bryant in WVU's semifinal win over Washington on Thursday in the Carrier Dome, then brought Joel Mazzulla off the bench. Often, the Mountaineers just went with a five-forward lineup. Kentucky does have a point guard. Most think John Wall is the best point guard in college basketball, and the freshman contributed eight assists to the Cats' victory over Cornell on Saturday.
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UK notes: Cats are failing the board test
UK notes: Cats are failing the board test

NASHVILLE — Kentucky goes into Saturday's game against Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals ranked fourth in the nation in rebound margin. That's No. 4 with an anchor, not a bullet.
When UK played the Vols two weekends ago, the Cats led the nation.
The slide to a No. 4 in rebound margin did not include Alabama hammering the Cats 45-33 on the board Friday. The game marked the third straight game the opponent outrebounded UK, and the fourth time in the last six games.
Bledsoe, Orton staying in NBA Draft
Bledsoe, Orton staying in NBA Draft

The University of Kentucky basketball team officially lost two more players from this year's 35-3 Elite Eight team.
As expected, freshmen Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton have decided to remain in the NBA Draft and will hire agents. Bledsoe and Orton join fellow Wildcats freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins and junior Patrick Patterson in declaring for the NBA Draft, which will be held June 24 in New York City. All five Kentucky players are expected to be first-round picks.
Bledsoe, a 6-foot-1 combo guard, averaged 11.3 points and shot 38 percent from behind the arc in his freshman year. Bledsoe finished sixth on UK's all-time freshman scoring list (419), second on the three-point field goals made list (49) and fourth on the freshman assist list (107). He set a career-high with 29 points, including 8-for-9 three-point shooting, in Kentucky's 100-71 first-round NCAA Tournament win over East Tennessee State.

All the talk concerns all the duos.

There's the freshman duo of John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. There's the guard duo of Wall and Eric Bledsoe. There's the inside duo of Cousins and Patrick Patterson. There's the inside freshman duo of Cousins and Daniel Orton. Kentucky basketball is awash in dynamic duos.

Yet there is this sneaky little feeling that when it comes to the Cats' post-season chances, a less-touted duo will end up playing a rather significant role.

Call it the double-D duo — Darius Miller and Darnell Dodson.

Call the sophomore duos X-factors as well, with Miller being the 6-foot-7 wing man from Mason County and Dodson the 6-7 streak shooter from Greenbelt, Md,, via Miami Dade Community College.

Sunday, when Kentucky held off fighting Florida 74-66, it was Miller who led the way with 14 points, making three of his five three-point attempts. Dodson reached double digits, as well, hitting all three of his shots, including a pair of triples, plus two free throws to score 10 points in 11 minutes.

"(Darius) and Darnell have really stepped up," said John Calipari on Tuesday. "It's nice when they pull up to shoot and you think the ball's going in versus 'please don't shoot an air ball.' "

Come NCAA Tournament time, you need those shots to go in the basket. And sometimes you need those made shots from unexpected sources.

Kentucky history backs that. In the 1996 national title game, freshman Ron Mercer scored 20 points off the bench in 24 minutes. In the '98 title run, Cameron Mills kept coming up big, hitting a huge three-pointer with 2:15 left in the comeback regional finals win over Duke, scoring eight points in 12 minutes in the NCAA finals victory over Utah.

In 1978, James Lee scored 13 points off the bench, including making all five of his free throws, in the national semifinal win over Eddie Sutton and Arkansas.

Or look at UK's first-round tournament victory that year, when the Cats overcame a 39-32 halftime deficit to beat Florida State 85-76. The Cats' leading scorer that day? Truman Claytor with 16 points.

Maybe the best example: In 1974-75, starting senior guard Mike Flynn averaged nine points per game. In UK's epic regional finals win over previously unbeaten Indiana, Flynn scored 22 points.

Miller or Dodson could be one of those stories. And it's not that their production Sunday was totally unexpected. It is to say it just hasn't always been there.

Dodson suffered through a seven-game stretch in which he made just two of 21 three-pointers. The last two games, however, Dodson has made five of eight threes, and scored 21 points in 32 minutes.

Miller, the 2008 Mr. Basketball in Kentucky, had strung together 11 straight games of single-figure scoring outputs, and temporarily lost his starting job along the way. He did not shoot the ball well at Georgia last week, but did do a good job guarding the Bulldogs' athletic Travis Leslie. Sunday in Rupp, Miller did shoot well from outside, and even grabbed a rebound and threw down a jam inside.

"I like the fact that he's trying to guard, he's trying to rebound," said Calipari when asked about Miller during the SEC teleconference on Monday. "How about he gets an offensive rebound and dunks it? ... I think having to sit him on the bench and make him earn his way back probably helped him."

But Tuesday, Calipari added this, "Some of it is on John (Wall) and Eric (Bledsoe). Because when they're making shots — and they don't have to make every shot, just one out of three; you can't go 0-for-6, you go 1-for-3, you make a couple in a row, that takes the heat off the rest of our team. ... Now those other guys can let it go, and know it's not on me."

"For the most part, everybody is focusing on them," Miller said Sunday. "That gives me a little more space to roam."

A little more space to come up big.

Reach John Clay at (859) 231-3226 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3226, or jclay@herald-leader.com. Read his blog at Kentucky.com.