ASU Basketball: Briann January Narrowly Misses WNBA Finals Opportunity
After taking a 2-1 series lead over the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces, the No. 7 seeded Connecticut Sun couldn’t finish the upset, losing the semifinals in five games.
It would have been the Sun’s second straight season to the WNBA Finals, but with a bunch of new faces on the squad. There was one newcomer on the team who Sun Devil fans recognized immediately - Briann January.
The former Arizona State superstar was acquired by the Connecticut Sun in a three-team deal from the Phoenix Mercury back on Feb. 19. The Sun greatly valued January’s playoff experience, shooting, playmaking, and top-tier defense. She’s one of the best three-and-D specialists in the sport, period.
She’s led the WNBA in three-point percentage twice (2015, 2018) and has made six-all defensive teams in her career.
It was easy to see her game translating on the professional level if you watched her in college. She was named to All Pac-10 first team in 2009, won Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year twice, and is second all-time in assists in ASU history.
Everything Briann January brought to the table; the Connecticut Sun needed or they might not have come within a game of going back to the WNBA Finals. But the road to get to that point was not easy for the team or January.
The team started out the gates slow with an unimpressive 2-6 record. During that stretch, January was not playing as she was recovering from COVID-19. Unfortunately, she wasn’t asymptomatic like her teammate Natisha Hiedeman, who contracted it at the same time.
During the worst stretch against the virus, January experienced extreme fatigue, chills, congestion, and body aches, while not having her sense of taste and smell throughout the majority of the battle.
After a lot of cardiac and blood tests to confirm no long-term effects, January returned to the court on Aug.12. The 2-6 Connecticut Sun seemed to breathe new life with January’s return, winning 8 of their next 14 games.
It took time for January to work back into shape, and her numbers reflected it. She averaged a career-low in points (5.0) and field goal percentage (29.3%).
But when the lights of the playoffs turned on, the 2012 WNBA champion stepped up. January nearly doubled her scoring average in the playoffs from 5 points to 9 points and was tied for second on the team in threes made (10).
It would have been the fourth finals appearance (2009, 2012, 2015) for the former ASU superstar. But it was still a great season, nonetheless.
Taking the top-seeded playoff team - with the MVP of the WNBA season, might I add - to the brink is an accomplishment within itself. The Connecticut Sun have most of their team locked up for next year, so don’t be surprised if they try to run it back.