TEMPE -- Kelsey Moos and Sophie Brunner were walking through a Sun Devil women's basketball study hall late last spring. The seniors had already concluded their basketball careers and undergraduate studies. All practical obligations to the program were behind them, but their voices still commanded respect and their commitment to the team endured.
Brunner told the players to get off their cell phones and focus.
"Everybody better be stepping it up," Moos added.
Academic excellence is more than a buzz phrase for ASU women's basketball. It's an unyielding expectation -- a backstitch in the team's culture without which the whole fabric would unravel.