Most people know all about Briann January's game on the basketball court.
The junior guard has been a sparkplug on both ends of the court for the Sun Devils and a thorn in the side of opposing teams for the better part of three years.
"We're only asking her to do everything," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne joked. "You have to have a person that's tough and a great worker at this level to keep growing at the rate that she's growing. It's incredibly hard to do and just speaks to how special she is."
January is a factor in virtually every aspect of the game. She is currently second on the Sun Devils in scoring (11.5 points per game), and ranks in the top two in the Pac-10 in assists (4.8 per game), free throw percentage (.864), steals (2.3 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.78).
"Every time I step on the court, I try to do whatever the team needs of me," January said. "If that's to lock somebody down on defense, I'll be the one to do it. If it's to rebound, I'll try to do that. And if it's to put the ball in the hoop, I'll try to do that."
But most people don't know January didn't become serious about basketball until middle school.
Belts before ball
Before spending most of her days on a court, she spent them in a martial arts studio.
January's father is a karate instructor in Spokane, Wash., and she started training "when she could walk."
"I was that kid running around kicking everyone," she said. "I was pretty dedicated to it. I loved it so much."
January continued mastering her martial arts throughout her childhood and was also on the studio's competitive team.
January said that different type of competition is something she thrived on while growing up.
"You're competing with the team, but it's so individual," she said. "You go out there by yourself and you're competing. You're fighting. You're going through your forms. It taught me discipline."
January said she's the least likely person to use her karate skills nowadays, but did put them to practical use one time when she was younger.
"I used it in elementary school when this kid took my basketball," she said with a laugh. "I hit the basketball and tripped him and took him down and then took my basketball back."
January earned the sport's ultimate honor when she passed her black belt test in eighth grade. She considers getting through the grueling test one of her greatest accomplishments.
"It was hours of testing," she said. "It's draining. It tests you physically, mentally, emotionally. By the end of the test, you're pretty much done."
January said having her dad as one of judges actually made getting through her black belt test more difficult.
"He definitely pushed me harder than a lot of those people, I guarantee it," she said. "I'm grateful for having to push through that. That toughened me up a lot."
Following the Stars
But after reaching karate's highest level, January wanted to start to focus on basketball. That meant having a conversation with her father to break the news that she wasn't going to be hanging around the karate studio as much anymore.
"I think by that time I had some promise in basketball, so he was like, 'OK, I guess. Go ahead,'" she said. "He took it pretty easily. He knew what I wanted to do."
January then turned to the hardwood, where she was an all-state player at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane.
In addition to playing on her high school team, January played on the Spokane Stars, an AAU team, with former Sun Devils Aubree Johnson and Emily Westerberg and current senior guard Reagan Pariseau. It was January who later followed those three to ASU.
"Aubree, Emily and Reagan were my idols growing up because they were the talk of Spokane," she said. "We just clicked, and we just had that chemistry, and [I thought], 'Why not come play with them [in college]?'"
But before getting the chance to play with January, Pariseau had to play against her.
"I was just like, 'Who is this kid? She is so quick and just so athletic,'" Pariseau said. "You could tell from the start that she was just going to just be this amazing player and had so much potential. I'm just glad that I play with her [now], not against her."
Turner Thorne had a similar reaction the first time she saw January play on that club team as a freshman in high school. She then began the process of recruiting January to come to ASU.
"She was so dynamic and such a great passer in transition," Turner Thorne said. "She was a little ninth grader playing with the big girls. It's really fun as a coach when you see a kid that's young and basically kind of a prodigy and you love everything about them and you actually get to coach them."
January also said that the relationship she quickly developed with Turner Thorne was a huge reason she decided to be a Sun Devil.
"Even before I came on my trip here, we would get on the phone and talk for hours just about basketball and I would love it," she said. "Her passion about basketball just gets me excited every time she talks about it. She loves the game so much and that spreads throughout the team."
Becoming the go-to gal
January burst onto the scene as a freshman by leading the Sun Devils in assists (86), steals (46) and minutes off the bench (19.3), which also earned her a spot on the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.
During her sophomore campaign, January developed into more of an explosive creator and scorer to add to her defensive and passing abilities. She continued to lead the team in assists and steals, but was also second on the team in scoring (10.2 points per game).
January especially stepped her offensive game up during the 2007 postseason. She scored nine points in a 13-0 run by the Sun Devils when they nearly came back to defeat Stanford in the Pac-10 Tournament championship game and then averaged 18.5 points per game in the Sun Devils' come-from-behind wins against UC-Riverside and Louisville in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
"If you look at the evolution, by the end of her sophomore year she's our go-to player and taking the game over on both ends of the floor," Turner Thorne said.
While January is known for her intensity and focus on the court, she remains pretty relaxed with her teammates off of it.
"I provide just kind of a happy-go-lucky, chill attitude to get everybody loosened up," she said. "I'm not that person that's always serious. I try to bring a good time to the team and make sure everybody's loose and having fun."
After her playing days are over, January wants to stay around the game and become a coach, which Turner Thorne said she definitely has the passion and work ethic for.
But until then, January said she wants to continue to learn as much about the game as possible, become more of a vocal leader on the court and win a championship at ASU.
January also hasn't forgotten about her former sport and said that she and her dad both think her karate background helps her on the basketball court.
"My dad swears up and down it does," she said. "I can see it. [My karate training helps me with] reaction time, just calming myself, just being able to get centered and get focused and directing my energy. All those things help me on the court for sure."
Reach the reporter at gina.mizell@asu.edu.
