A four-year starter, Dowdell and teammate Jamon Gordon were considered one of the best backcourt duos in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

His accomplishments at the university led to his induction into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

[4] At the end of the regular season, Dowdell played in two games of the 2004 Big East tournament, during which he scored 21 points, and had eight assists and seven steals.

On February 2, 2005, Dowdell tied a career-high with five three-pointers and scored a season-high 23 points in a win over the University of Miami in front of a large crowd from his hometown of Pahokee, Florida.

On February 17, 2005, he hit the game-winning three-pointer and scored 11 points and two assists in the win over seventh-ranked Duke University in Cassell Coliseum, one of the most famous victories in Virginia Tech basketball history.

He was 16th in scoring in the ACC (tenth in league games), 11th in steals, and third in three-point field goal percentage.

He was named an All-ACC honorable mention and first-team All-State by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) and the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

[8] He was named an All-ACC Honorable mention for the second consecutive season and second-team All-State by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

[13] On February 13, 2007, Dowdell scored a career-high 33 points in an 81–80 overtime win again against fourth-ranked North Carolina in the Dean Smith Center,[14] completing the sweep.

On June 15, 2008, Dowdell and SLUC Nancy won the LNB Championship game against defending champion Chorale Roanne Basket, 84–53.

Dowdell played in all ten regular season games and had 112 points, 32 assists, 28 rebounds and 12 steals.

[22] In the quarterfinals of the postseason, Fastweb Casale won three straight games against Coopsette Rimini to sweep the series and advance.

[24] His play allowed him to sign up for their training camp with undrafted rookie ex-Northeastern Husky Matt Janning and veteran NBA point guard Chucky Atkins.

After four months, he decided to move on, accepting an offer of the Spanish club Unicaja Málaga.

[27] Dowdell was featured in the January 31, 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated in an article about NBA players with ten-day contracts.

On March 1, 2012, after passing his physical exam, Dowdell signed with CB Gran Canaria in Spain.

[32] On July 16, 2015, he signed a one-year contract with the Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg.

[36] But, before the end of the season, the team decided to replace him with the new hire Randy Culpepper and, because the number of foreign players exceeded the limit, Dowdell transferred in Germany to Rasta Vechta.