photo credit Nico Genslein

How often has one heard how important first impressions are? It is something that affects you in so many aspects of life. Obviously giving a lasting first impression at a job interview is something that always helps. Meeting someone and how they act can also leave a lasting impression. I once had two lasting impressions that couldn’t have been more different. It is has been no secret that the 2 best point guards since 2010 for UConn have been Kemba Walker and Shabazz Napier. They helped the school in Storrs win 2 of the last 3 NCAA titles. I collected autographs as a kid and came back to it sporadically as an adult as I became involved with basketball overseas. Back in 2013, I witnessed a good but not NBA superstar yet with Kemba Walker when he was with Charlotte ignore everyone around him and board the team bus as if he was in his own galaxy. Then some years later in 2018, I saw Shabazz Napier who then was with Portland and now in 2023 is experiencing the glitz of Milan come out and mingle with people and have conversations with them as if it was a normal thing to do with strangers. Of course Walker came over as a complete A hole while Napier was a real cool dude. Of course when you don’t really know the two guys, you shouldn’t make judgements. I mean many NBA guys don’t sign and it is a normal occurrence. But for Enosch Wolf (214-C-1990, college: UConn) who is one of only 4 Germans that ever won a NCAA title, he can calm all haters and confirm that both are real good dudes. ‘Kemba was in his own galaxy at UConn but not in a negative way. He stayed on the ground and didn’t think that he was better than anyone else. He spoke to everyone and never showed that he was the star. Everyone knew he was going to go to the NBA. After a win we would go and party except Kemba. He had to be careful what he did. All eyes were on him. He had to be careful not to have any slip ups. He was always focused and locked in. Kemba was a good guy. Shabazz was also a super nice guy with a strong character. He was a great shooter. He had this special self-confidence. He came from the worst area in Boston called Roxbury. You would think guys like that would have that gangster aspect, but he was the complete opposite. He had a great heart. It doesn’t surprise me that you had a positive experience with him’, stated Enosch Wolf. UConn was crowned 2023 NCAA champion and Enosch Wolf didn’t even know his former school was in the title game.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and Shabazz Napier in Boston in 2018

Enosch Wolf who remembers Steven Adams as being his toughest cover in the NCAA is a 32 year old 214cm giant that played his 10th professional season with German Pro A team Giessen 46ers and announced his retirement after the season. He began his career with BG 74 Goettingen and was already playing Regionalliga 2 basketball at age 17. After 3 years at UConn, he returned back to Germany in 2013 and since has had a solid professional career. He reached the easyCredit BBL playing a total of 18 games with the Telekom Baskets Bonn and medi Bayreuth and also played 9 Eurocup games. He spent most of his career in the German Pro A having amassed over 200 games with teams like the Kirchheim Knights, Hamburg Towers, Tigers Tuebingen, Romerstrom Gladiators Trier, and Rasta Vechta. He also was briefly in Spain and Luxemburg. I reach Enosch on a Tuesday night after his practice with the Giessen 46ers 15 hours after his alma mater UConn won their 5th NCAA title. You would think that a guy who won March Madness would be glued to the television set the same way Germans were to the tv last summer when team Germany was doing their magical Euro run in Cologne and Berlin, but surprisingly he wasn’t. Even if the starting time of 3.00 am in Europe was late, there are enough diehards that would have stayed up. ‘For me it was too late. I haven’t watched as many sports anymore in the last years. I have to be honest that I just don’t have the time. I have stopped following certain basketball teams on Instagram. And besides I didn’t leave UConn on the best terms’, stressed Enosch Wolf. Exactly something did happen at UConn. He had a bad experience off the court and was suspended by the team. He was able to stay but didn’t get his scholarship which prompted him to return back to Germany. He didn’t even know that UConn was in the final. ‘On Monday night my ex teammate Ryan Schwieger of Rasta Vechta congratulated me to UConn winning. Then I googled and saw that UConn had only reached the final. Then I wrote him saying we were only in the final. He wrote back saying don’t worry they are playing a small team and will win easily’, smiled Enosch Wolf. Schwieger was correct that UConn would have no problems as they easily disposed of San Diego State 76-59.

The basketball giant who often heard comparisons to Pau Gasol about his game, but as a player always wanted to be like Lamar Odom played at UConn from 2010-2013. At that time it was becoming more sexy for young Germans to try a different route than the normal way in Germany, but to go overseas and get a solid education and be able to play basketball. ‘I remember the summer before I went to UConn as being crazy. Georgetown was a choice and I was slated to visit Georgia State and Penn State, but then didn’t. I then decided to go to UConn simply because Nils Giffey had committed and I thought it would be cool to have 2 Germans playing together’, stated Enosch Wolf. In his 3 year career, he would only play a total of 37 NCAA games. He took the good with the bad. There were great times in his 3 years, but if he had known earlier that playing time would be scarce, he probably would have gone elsewhere. ‘Coming in I had no idea that I would play so little. The UConn system wasn’t right for me. I think Georgetown would have been better. Andre Drummond got a lot of minutes. I thought it would get better my third year, but I still saw few minutes. Obviously the lifestyle and experience were very positive. It was great to see how professional everything was and the travel and practices was very worthwhile for me’, remembered Enosch Wolf. He averaged 13 minutes and 3,4ppg and 3,4rpg in his last year and scored twice in double figures against Wake Forest and North Carolina State where he battled against a young Lorenzo Brown now a top player in the Euroleague. ‘The game against UNC State was one of my best. Even if we lost, we played 2 games in 2 days in the packed Madison Square Garden in New York’, said Enosch Wolf.

The big man who has Kobe Bryant as his goat will never forget the 2011 March Madness run where UConn beat Butler. The 24 hours after the win was an experience that was beyond insane.’Storrs is in the middle of nowhere and basketball is all that the fans had. The women are also successful. UConn have a big following in New England and are like the Patriots in college basketball there. When we won it we were in Houston. I remember the locker room being full of alumni. The bus and hotel after was crazy. Former player Hasheem Thabeet took care of us during the night going to parties. We slept like 2 hours. Then we flew home. The governor of Connecticut welcomed us on the runway at the airport. On the way back to Storrs, there were already 2011 NCAA national champions signs on the free way. Then we met all the cheering fans at the Gampel pavilion. That was over at 2.00 pm. After that was the first time where we had a few hours to relax in our dorm rooms. After that we partied for a week’, laughed Enosch Wolf. He also will never forget the ankle breaker by Kemba Walker and the daily battles with future NBA beast Andre Drummond who was 3 inches smaller but 30 pounds heavier at the time. ‘Of course I watched it from the bench. That is a play you see every year on Instagram and other places. It was crazy. What Kemba did in the Big East tournament was crazy. UConn was the first play in team to win it all. It had never been done before and he was a big part of it. We won 5 games in 5 days. The ankle breaker was against Gary McGhee who would later play in Germany in the BBL. Andre lived from his athleticism. He didn’t understand the pick and roll, but he didn’t have to. He got every rebound and dunked everything. He was like a big baby in a man’s body. He was always in a good mood’, remembered Enosch Wolf. Even if he didn’t play much under legendary head coach Jim Calhoun, the German has nothing but the utmost respect and love for him. ‘He helped me most mentally. I knew after playing for him that no matter where I would go after UConn, I would survive anywhere. I remember Rudy Gay coming to talk to us and saying. The NBA is a cake walk after you have played for Jim Calhoun. He was a hard coach, but as soon as basketball was over for the day, he was a really nice guy. I am 100% sure that if I was having a bad phase in my career, I could call him at anytime and he would help me find a job’, warned Enosch Wolf.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and Niels Giffey in Cologne at the Eurochampionshsips in 2022

The ex Tuebingen center who lists Kobe, Jordan, Lebron and Lamar Odom on his personal NBA Mount Rushmore looks back on his UConn days now a decade later with mixed feelings. He is only 1 of 4 Germans that has ever won a NCAA title and that is something he did and something nobody can take away from him, but it isn’t an accomplishment that he ranks as his best in his career. ‘Winning the NCAA title was a cool and untypical accomplishment and was crazy back at the time. But now it is something that I’m not as proud of. I played like 1 minute in the whole March Madness. When you don’t play, it is difficult to get that feeling you accomplished something. I’m very thankful for the experience, but I don’t really have the feeling that I did something for it’, stressed Enosch Wolf. He knows that if certain situations hadn’t happened, he could have joined Nils Giffey as only 2 Germans to have ever won 2 NCAA titles, but not having stayed is something that hasn’t troubled him the last decade. ‘It would have been nice if I could of stayed a fourth year, but now I don’t care anymore. I put myself in a bad situation then. I wasn’t focused then on basketball the way I should have been. I have had a good life since UConn. I’m more a fan of enjoying life and being happy then being unhappy about something that didn’t happen’, expressed Enosch Wolf. One fond memory he will always have is having been teammates with Niels Giffey for 3 years at UConn. ‘There isn’t one memory really that I cherished most. The whole experience as 2 Germans going through life at UConn and winning a NCAA title together was very special. We made our first steps together at UConn and experienced many things together. I remember we did a trip to the New Jersey coast and lived in a vacation house. We did this and so many other things together’, remembered Enosch Wolf. You wonder how often Giffey and Wolf meet now and talk about the good old days? You know there would never be a dull moment.

Tags : ENOSCH WOLF, JOBSTAIRS GIESSEN 46ERS, GERMAN BASKETBALL