The knock on the door didn't make Mariah McCully happy. She wanted to sleep. She didn't want to think about weights, or class or study hall.
The knocking continued on her apartment door. Wichita State basketball coach Keitha Adams wouldn't stop.
That, in ways McCully didn't realize at the time, made her feel good. Somebody cared. Somebody demanded she get to class and graduate and play basketball. Somebody cared enough to push her to do those things that weren't easy.
"She used to bang on my door – 'Mariah, you have to do this, we're doing to do this now,'" McCully said.