The Wichitan - Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls Texas

MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY | December, 8, 2004

SPORTS

Jay January brings new Talent to MSU
Ignacio Cruz | For the Wichitan

Lawrence Jay January II knew that his athletic capabilities would take him far in life, whether it be in basketball or football. But as a son of a military
couple, “far” always meant a constant change in scenery that included moves to North Dakota, Georgia and Texas.
January, a former basketball star at Burkburnett High School, will finish his collegiate career this season as an MSU Indian after transferring from Mercer University, an NCAA Division I basketball program in Macon, Ga.
The six-foot-two, 193-pound senior guard expects to utilize his leadership and court awareness this year in hopes of guiding the Indians to a playoff run and possible conference title.
As a young child, he learned the fundamentals of the sports from his father, Lawrence January Sr., who once had try-outs with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.
January Sr., also known as “Big J,” placed the round leather ball in h is son’s hands at the age of four, hoping to pass a traditional bloodline of basketball talent to his child. “Lil’ J” soon became passionate for the sports, idolizing and patterning his game after NBA players such as Michael Jordan and, later on, Kobe Bryant.
“I like the way they shoot, dunk, dribble,” January said. “I just like the waythey run.”
As January grew older, he developed an interest in football, forcing him to manage time wisely between the hardwood court and the gridiron.
Near the completion of middle school, January began to wonder which athletic sport would better suit his capabilities in the long run. After all, he had become such a talented two-sport athlete that colleges began offering himathletic scholarships in the eighth grade.
“A lot of people wanted me to play football. Like, football came natural. Like, just the speed and strength,” January said. “But in basketball, a lot of people pushed me into playing and told me just to keep going and going.
“I was always a better football player than basketball player. I still second-guess, like, man, what if I had played football.”
D.J. Lemelle, January’s middle school coach, finally convinced the promising point guard that basketball was going to play a key role in his future plans.
“He saw the potential I had,” January said. “A lot of times I just wanted to play football, but he kept pushing me in basketball. He was like, you got to keep playing, you’re something special, stuff like that and he kept pushing me.”
He placed full attention on basketball when he enrolled in Minot High School in North Dakota, where he became the first freshman in the school’s history to be promoted to varsity level. He said his most memorable moment that season came when he experienced his first high school dunk.
Sitting on a 10-point lead with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, a five-foot-ten January threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk that brought the crowd to their feet.
“Everyone was going crazy,” January said. “I remember my sister, my mom, my dad, everyone was crazy. It was my first dunk in a high school game.”
As fate would have it, the January family decided the relocate from Minot to Warner Robins, Ga., a city where relatives of the family already resided. The move was easy for the entire family unit because the area was already familiar to them. But after his junior year at Warner Robins High, January made plans to relocate with his family again, this time overseas.
Instead of losing his college opportunities in the United States, January decided to stay put and reside with his grandparents in Wichita Falls. In fall of 2000, he enrolled at nearby Burkburnett High School to complete his final year of high school.
January thrived in his lone season at the Class 4A school, where he and fellow recruit Matt Gipson, now at the University of Hawaii, led the state-ranked Bulldogs to a district title and playoff berth. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, a second round upset by Fort Worth Southwest put a halt to their outstanding season.
“That’s where I loved playing the most,” January said. “I wish I had more than one year there, but one year worked out pretty good.”
It was not until he moved to Burkburnett that January began receiving calls from the larger universities.
“When I was in the eighth grade it was more like smaller schools. But when I got to Burk it was bigger school like Texas Tech, Kansas State and New Mexico State,” he said.
January ended up signing with Mercer, where family and the geographic distance from his home in Warner Robins to Macon were the factors that led to his decision.
Mercer progressed to the top of January’s basketball list only after a well-known name scared him away from one of his top considerations.
Texas Tech had been proposing offers, but word soon spread that former Indiana Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight was headed to Lubbock to take over the struggling Red Raider program. Knight, notoriously known for his violent acts involving players, coaches, referees and media, was something that January did not want to be a part of. Although Knight is a credible basketball coach with a pair of national championship rings, January feared the two would have clashed at some point.
“I just couldn’t be a part of his program,” he said. “I mean, it’s not the factthat I don’t like authority, but he just takes his too far.”
Due to numerous injuries in his first season at Mercer, January was forced to play at an elite level as a true freshman, a role he relished.
“It kind of makes me feel good knowing the fact that he was like, we need you to play, you can’t red-shirt, we depend on you,” January said of his coach. “I wish I would have so I could have another year to learn.”
The team did not fare well that year, but the experience helped January progress as a player and earn a spot on the freshman All-Conference team. The following season, the Bears finished with a 23-6 record and took home the 2002
Atlantic-Sun Conference championship. January said the 2002-2003 season was the best year during his tenure at the school.
Unfortunately, a major disagreement with the head coach forced January to change his surroundings for the final year of his basketball career. It was a disappointing situation, but January was more than willing to take his services elsewhere.
At first, most schools were afraid to pick up January, who only had one year of eligibility. Some athletic programs were not willing to hand out a one-year scholarship.
“When you get released a lot of teams hear about it, so a lot of teams in Georgia were calling,” January said. “I called my high school coach Danny Nix, and he told me to come to MSU. They lost, like, four or five players so I called to see what’s up.”
When it was announced that January would be coming back to Wichita Falls, fan bases in Burkburnett and the surrounding area began talking. He said Burkburnett residents were extremely happy to see him represent MSU.
Being in his final year, January said he expects this season to be the best of his career. Even if the talent level fails to rival that of a Division I school,
January has hinted that Division II is extremely competitive and there is no such thing as an easy opponent.
January said the team lost many leaders from last year, but that this year’s group is coming together nicely.
“We’re still learning a lot of things defensively, but the guys get along on and off the court,” January said. “We’re still trying to feel each other a little more, but we should be all right once we start playing games, especially when we start conference games. I think we will be clicking then.”

Leader of the pack: Justin James uses brains, talent to go from sixth man to main man
Jennifer Tavlian | Sports Editor

He gazes longingly at the court, his home since he was playing at the YMCA at the age of six. It’s the day before a game and Justin James, senior forward for the Indians, is already in game mode.
He’s smart enough to know that getting hyped up for a game so early would be draining.
The radiology major is smart enough to know a lot of things.
“Justin James is easy to coach,” Indians head coach Jeff Ray said. “He’s a smart player on and off the court. With him, you get effort and concentration. He never takes a day off.
“Every day he brings what he has to practice and to every game.”
James led the Indians last year in rebounds per game with an average of 8.8 andcame off the bench in the sixth man role to average 6.6 points per game. This year, he has started in ____ of the eight games played.
“It’s a little different,” James said of being more of a starter this year.
“You warm up the same way and you come in with the same mindset. It doesn’t really change the way you play, but it is a little different.”
There is a difference between the 6’6” forward of this season and the kid fresh out of Rockwall High School in the 2001-2002 season.
His minutes have progressively increased and so has his intensity.
“I’ve been more assertive at times in the game and I feel more comfortable in more situations,” James said. “I don’t think I’ve progressed more. I’ve just been on the floor more.”
His ___ minutes per game average is a testament to his talent and leadership.
As one of just five returning players, James was cast into the lead role by
Coach Ray.
“I’m indifferent to wanting to be a leader,” James said. “I take the responsibility seriously since this is a new team. There are other leaders, like LP (Leonard Pralour) and Tate (Lombard).”
He felt the pressure to score more earlier this season with last year’s point guard phenom Marquette Wilkins graduated.
“Now that the team is scoring more evenly, I’m not as pressured,” James said.
He didn’t feel the need to compete with Indians’ big-man Jose Nava, a six-foot-nine Venezuelan import, for rebounds because the team was “out there with the same purpose,” according to James.
The selflessness of this player might be what sets him apart from the prototypical athlete mold.
“He’s very hard-working; a team player,” forward Shelton Hawkins said. “He doesn’t care about stats.
“He’s one of those people where if you go to war, you want him on your side.”
Basketball is a big part of his life, but his faith and his family take precedence over the game.
His biggest fans are in attendance for every home game, nearly every away game and talk to him on the phone at least once a week.
They’re his parents.
The first two years of their son’s college basketball career, Jack and Judy James didn’t make it to every away game. Last year they only missed a couple.
As proud as they are of their son’s actions on the court, it’s his actions off the court that have left an impression on his parents.
“His character is what we’re most proud of,” Judy said. “He’s made really good choices in life, not just in basketball.”
“If you ever had to have a son, he’s the one you want,” Jack added.
James’ parents recall their son playing basketball into the wee hours of the morning with his friend Nathan Doudney, who is a junior guard at Gonzaga. The pair, who have been friends since the second grade, could be seen in the driveway every day, playing one-on-one.
Doudney played a big part of James’ basketball career, but it’s Jack that keeps him going.
“Sometimes I’ll look in the stands during a game if my shot is off to see what he has to say,” James said. “I’ll talk to him after the game, too.”
But James is his own worst critic.
“I’m my biggest critic about everything,” he said. “I’ll lose sleep if I had a bad game and I’ll usually think about it until the next game.”
It hasn’t been often that James has had a bad game. Last year against Tarleton State, he hit the game-winning shot. This season, his biggest game came against
_______ where he had ___________.
His basketball heroes weren’t complaining often about bad games either. Larry Bird and Dirk Nowitzki are two legends of the game that James looks up to.
Fans and opposing players comment on the physical resemblance between James and Nowitzki, mainly in the floppy mess of blond curls.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that quite a bit,” James said, laughing. “I just take it in stride.”
James will take his future in stride as well.
“I just live day to day,” he said. “Ideally, I’d be in the league next year or play overseas.
“But I might go to Dallas, get a job and become and high roller and retire early.”
After his playing days at MSU are over, he wants to be remembered as a good basketball player as opposed to a good student.
“There’s a lot of good student and not many good basketball players,” James said, smiling. “I’m a student, a fan of the game first.“
It might not be long until the self-professed pupil of the game becomes the master.

Reporter's Graduation leads to more fan Activities, Dedication
Jason Palmer | Staff Reporter

There are certain benchmark accomplishments that a hard-core fan must do for their team.
You’ve gotta paint your face at least once a season.
You’ve gotta drive more than 500 miles roundtrip to see a game on the road.
Getting a player to react to your heckling is golden. But getting a parent to confront you after the game puts even more prestige on you as a fan for your team.
Over the last two and a half years I haven’t had a lot of time to be a fan. Being a journalist has almost always come first.
But after December 18, all that will change. I’ll still be a photographer at the local paper, but I won’t be covering sports ever again for the Wichitan.
I’m not really sure what I’ll do with all of my free time, but anytime that I’m not working and any of the MSU teams have a game, anywhere. I’m going.
That’s something that I have never been able to understand about the “fan” base at MSU. Where the heck are you guys?
Yeah, the lower stands are filled on one side for basketball every now and then, but I can count the number of real fans on two hands.
And where is the freaking Tribe anyways? They haven’t made an appearance yet.
But this isn’t about them. It’s about me.
Even as a sideline photographer, I’ve managed to have a lot of fun with fans (either on our side or the other team). It’s all part of the game.
But the most fun I’ve ever had at a game is also the most important thing for a fan to experience.
Playoff Fever.
It doesn’t matter if you watch a high school football game, little league baseball, college to professional.
There is no substitute.
This past weekend was one of those kinds of times, although judging by the complete lack of community support, including MSU, nobody noticed.
I was on-hand to witness two national championship trophies handed out. On our soccer field. Judging by the number of local fans that showed up (not counting our guys and girls soccer team) nobody seemed to notice.
Words cannot express how sad that it and how badly it reflects on our school and our community. At least four of the top five soccer games ever played on our field was played last weekend. The level of excitement outclassed any MSU-West Texas matchup.
And seeing, firsthand, one of those pretty golden NCAA national championship trophies handed out will surely remain in my memory banks for a very long time. The true fans for all the schools that came here had a blast.
You so-called sports fans blew it.
But the real fans on this campus will gain a valuable voice in a couple of weeks.
That will be mine. As soon as I graduate.