For Briann January, the rookie life in the WNBA is pretty darn good so far.
After all, the Indiana Fever point guard gets to share the floor with MVP candidates Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas every game and ranks first among rookies in assists (2.9 per game).
Not to mention, Indiana is in the middle of a franchise-record nine-game winning streak and will go for No. 10 in a row against Chicago on Wednesday.
“I was just blessed enough to get [drafted by a] team with amazing people and some amazing veterans that have just made this whole transition for me and experience for me just great,” January said. “I can’t say enough about my teammates — they have made this so easy for me.”
But that doesn’t mean adjusting from college basketball to the professional ranks has been a complete cakewalk for the former ASU standout.
January was drafted sixth overall by the Fever on April 9, which was just over a week after the ASU women’s basketball team ended its 2008-09 season with a loss to eventual national champion Connecticut in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
After the draft, she returned to ASU to finish school and graduate and then had to pack up and make the move from Tempe to Indianapolis in time for the start of training camp on May 17.
“From the end of the NCAA Tournament to me coming out here [to Indianapolis] to now [has] been a whirlwind,” January said. “There was a point when I was in a little of a panic because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, how am I going to get all this done?’ It was just coming so fast at me, but it all worked out.”
January then had to survive training camp, which wasn’t exactly a guarantee for anyone after the WNBA reduced roster sizes to 11 players for the 2009 season.
“It was fast-paced, and you better believe it was cut-throat,” she said. “It made me grow as a player really fast. It was just crazy, because you’d show up one day and two people were gone. It was super scary. If you had a bad day you were like, ‘Oh my gosh, am I going home?’”
January not only made the Fever’s final roster but emerged as the team’s starting point guard for the season opener.
But in the two games that January started at the beginning of the season, Indiana went 0-2.
Fever veteran point guard Tully Bevilaqua was then moved into the starting lineup ahead of January, but January said she has embraced her new role as the Fever’s first player off the bench.
“I can honestly say that it was a good move,” January said. “We lost the two games that I did start, and so adjustments have to be made.
Being able to come off the bench, you get a feel for the game, you get to see what’s going on [and] you get to make the adjustments that the players on the court can’t see. It gives me a little of an advantage going into the game, and I like it a lot, actually.”
The Fever hasn’t lost since the role switch.
Even though January now has 11 WNBA games under her belt, she said she still has moments where it hits her that she’s made it to the sport’s highest level.
“I’m a big, big nerd, and I’ve had that thought a couple times,” she said. “We went and played in Madison Square Garden and I was like, ‘Wow, OK, I’m here. I’m in the league playing in Madison Square right now,’ and I had to step back and soak it all in. It’s so exciting every night, just because the players you’re playing against and the energy that’s coming from the game is awesome.”
January has also had plenty of moments that made her “feel like a rookie,” such as when she had to guard WNBA superstars Sue Bird and Becky Hammon and when she was told by Fever coach Lin Dunn that information that would take over a month to cover in college would have to be learned in a week at the professional ranks.
“I’ve played basketball forever, but coming to this level, there’s just so much more to the game,” she said. “You really have to be a student of the game to catch up. There’s so much more going on in this game than [there] was in college.”
But January has been able to lean on her veteran teammates to for support and guidance — especially Bevilaqua.
“From day one, [Bevilaqua] was helping me with the transition, especially because she’s an established point guard in the league and she’s been here forever,” January said. “I can’t tell you how much she’s helped me in this process in just giving me little tidbits or just leading by example. She’s been amazing for me.”
Also helping January make the jump to the WNBA is what she learned during her ASU career, both on and off the court.
“I feel like I was more prepared than a lot of the new players coming into the league, and I’ve been told that,” January said. “[The ASU] coaches don’t just teach us how to be good basketball players, they teach us how to be respectable people hard workers, and I think those are the two things that are really respected in the WNBA.”
January has even been able to draw many similarities between ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne and Dunn, as well as between both coaches’ respective staffs.
“Besides the southern drawl that Lin Dunn has, I can honestly say there’s not much [difference],” January said. “Lin is a little more of a yeller, but at the same time she only yells when she needs to, and that’s basically the same way Charli coached. We value defense here, and that’s what Charli’s all about, so it’s the perfect fit for me.”
January has also started to adapt to her new surroundings in Indianapolis, which she said is “definitely no Arizona” but is comparable to her hometown of Spokane, Wash.
“It has this small-town feel,” she said. “Indianapolis is a city and it has some big-city things, but the people down here and just the way things are is just definitely laid back. Everybody’s been so welcoming down here.”
But one date January has had circled on her calendar all summer is Aug. 8, which is when the Fever travels to Phoenix to take on the Mercury.
“[On] draft day I looked at the schedule and knew when I was going to be back in Arizona,” she said. “It’s definitely something that I’ve had marked on my calendar for a long time, and I’m excited to come back and see everybody. I miss Tempe, I miss my [ASU] teammates [and] I miss everybody down there.”
Until then, January’s goal is to keep improving as a professional player and to continue to be the spark plug on both ends of the floor that Sun Devil fans came to know during her time in Tempe.
“[I want to] just grow defensively and continue studying the game,” she said. “Being able to be that point guard that can knock down open shots and get to the rim and just create for my teammates, I think that’ll help my team make it to a championship.”
Reach the reporter at gina.mizell@asu.edu
