After a basketball game or hard practice, don’t expect to find Sai Tummala taking a break or chilling out. Expect to find the lights on and his head buried in an organic chemistry or neurobiology textbook.
A junior at Arizona State University (ASU) with another year of athletic eligibility, Tummala learned recently that he scored in the 80th percentile on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). He flew to Dallas for less than 24 hours in January to take the test.
Tummala had spent nearly six months preparing for the MCAT. Some days he studied up to six hours. When the team traveled, he studied on the bus or plane. It’s challenging to find time to study, he says. Basketball practice takes four hours a day, six days a week, and usually lasts until 5 or 6 p.m. When he has a test or assignment due, he’s up until 2 or 3 in the morning.
As deftly as some players dribble a basketball, Tummala slam-dunks when it comes to academics. He has a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average; is a member of Barrett, the Honors College; and made the Dean’s List each semester at ASU.
The 6’6” Sun Devil forward also has a strong passion for athletics, particularly basketball. He started playing at age 10 and on through his years at Brophy College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school in Phoenix, where he grew up.
Brophy is a school that emphasizes developing the whole person, Tummala says. That philosophy influenced both the intellectual and the physical sides of his development. As for basketball, Tummala says he enjoys it because “you can be so creative in the way you can play. It’s a fluid and fast-paced game.”
Though he’s not in the Sun Devils’ regular playing rotation, he’s no less in love with basketball.
