Enosch Wolf: '(UConn's) Had My Back, It's Time for Me to Give Back'

Caught up with Enosch Wolf at the Greater Hartford Pro-Am the other night and wrote this piece. Sure, you say, another off-season UConn story where the kid has lost 12 pounds, put on muscle, is in great shape and looking forward to a great upcoming season. Well ... actually, yeah -- but there's more.

Wolf admits he has "slacked" a bit in his first two seasons at UConn, one of several reasons why he's often caught Jim Calhoun's wrath.

“The thing is, (Calhoun) is giving his best every single time, and he expects the same out of us,” Wolf said. “And I was slacking here a little. ...I was trying my best, but it was hard for me. I got frustrated with my play, it wasn’t what I was trying to be. My knees couldn’t get better and I couldn’t get in the shape I was trying to be in.”

Wolf added that playing for his club team in his home town of Goettingen, Germany didn’t really get him prepared for the ardors of Division I college basketball.

“I didn’t know what was expected of me when I got here,” he said. “I thought, ‘OK, I’m in good shape, I can do this.’ But it was tougher than I thought it would be.”

But Wolf certainly does look slimmer this summer and seems to have a refreshed attitude. UConn will count on him as its lone true, back-to-the-basket center, and he's ready to make amends, saying he just wants to give back "to the whole UConn organization — the fans, all the people. They’ve had my back the last two years, I feel like now it’s time to give back.”