Briann January moving up the bench, taking a positive approach following ACL injury

The Indiana Fever are rolling. Winners of their last four games, the Fever are currently in first place in the Eastern Conference and play their next four games at home. All is going smooth—except the news this week that Indiana will be without starting point guard Briann January for the remainder of the season.

January tore her right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the Fever’s five point home win over Phoenix. I just feel awful for the third-year player who has improved her game each year as a professional.

She is a tremendous worker who admires the game of teammate Tamika Catchings. She has never suffered anything more than a basic sprain in her playing career so this is a new adventure for her.

“She told me I’m not going to get rid of her,” January said of Catchings Friday. “She has been hitting me up everyday, coming by and checking on me…She’s been through this, been there done that, so she has a lot of insight and will be there to tell me.”

Surgery will be performed in 4 to 6 weeks by team doctor Stephen Kollias of St. Vincent Sports Performance. Having many friends that have gone through this surgery, I wonder why the wait? January addressed that today saying that it was the way Dr. Kollias did things.

Prior to the injury, January was averaging 8.6 points, 5.0 assists and 1.4 rebounds per game.

“It’s unfortunate and we’ll miss her leadership, but we know she’ll come back even better and even stronger,” Coach Lin Dunn said. “Now is the opportunity for someone else to step up, though. We have talked a lot about the depth of this team and so now is the time for someone like Erin Phillips or Shannon Bobbitt to fill that void. We may have a point guard-by-committee for awhile as we adjust to her loss.”

Luckily Indiana addressed the point guard position in the offseason. The Fever were a part of a three-team trade, allowing them to acquire Australian-native Erin Phillips. They also signed free agent Shannon Bobbitt out of Tennessee. Together, Phillips and Bobbitt will handle the point guard position with the occasional help of Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas.

Both are winners, and have played in big games. The lone trouble may be familiarity with the Fever system because they are in their first year with the team.

Working with January on game days, I know how hard she works to prepare for each game. Not only is she fun to work with because of her bubbling personality, but she is driven. Just three days after tearing her ACL, she was at practice, doing exercises and smiling every moment. Parts of playing professional are not fun, but Bri accepts her injury and will return stronger than ever.

There’s no question the Fever will feel the loss of January because of her tenacity and comfort within the program. Now she will work to get stronger, rehab her knee and learn the game from a different vantage point, as an assistant coach.

After hearing the results of January’s MRI, the two sat down and talked about her role moving forward. January has always had an interest in coaching and so for the rest of the season, she get her first opportunity. It will be important for her to direct from the bench, pointing things out Erin Phillips and Shannon Bobbitt.

Although she is disappointed in the circumstances, January will continue to work out the rest of her body and provide useful insight from a different seat on the bench.

“My team has been awesome supporting me. They are going to get me through it—that’s what they promised me.”

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