By Charlie Leffler
The first thing a person notices upon approaching Amanda Wolkeits her wide, bright smile. The 6’1″ senior forward has beenblessed with not only basketball talent, but also a winningpersonality and an unceasing cheerful expression. Wolke’sphilosophy on life is a simple one. “No sense walking around madeverywhere,” she said… with a smile, of course.
“She’s always in a great mood,” said Louisville head coachMartin Clapp. “She kind of brings a smile to your face when you’rearound her. She’s a good kid, and that’s what you’re looking for inyour program, because good kids bring in other good kids.”
If anyone would know if Wolke had a downside, it would be herbest friend, roommate, and teammate Nine Simotes; even she agreesthat Amanda is always an upbeat person. “She’s just a very nice,naturally happy person all the time,” said Simotes. “We’re alwaysjoking around. We can make a joke of anything.” Throughout lastseason, Wolke often had plenty to smile about. A transfer toLouisville from Hutchinson Community College, Wolke went through aperiod of adjustment to get into the pace of Division I basketball.At Hutchinson, she led the team in scoring and was named First TeamAll-KJCC. At Louisville, she stood the chance of becoming nothingbut a role player. Nevertheless, through effort alone, Wolke workedher way into the starting lineup, playing in all 30 games andstarting 25. Because she was not used to the school or the style ofplay, though, Wolke’s performances were uneven.
Still, there were times when she had opposing coaches andplayers doing anything but smiling.
In the third game of the season against Evansville, Wolke went7-11 from the floor for 47 points and 10 rebounds. Then, in thefirst game of 2002 against eventual C-USA champion Cincinnati,Wolke ripped off a career high 25 points on 12-16 shooting. In theCardinals’ record-setting comeback against Saint Louis, she pulleddown a career high 13 rebounds.
While Wolke’s numbers were at times outstanding, her greatestproblem was inconsistency. In most games that followed heroutstanding performances, Wolke would disappear with little to nooffensive output. After scoring 19 against Evansville, she totaledfour points in the next two games. Following her career shootingperformance against the Bearcats, Wolke did not surpass a total of25 points for the next five games combined.
“I think there were a lot of expectations last year,” saidClapp. “She probably lived up to them in a couple of games. In theCincinnati game, she really came out and showed what kind of playershe could be. One of the things we talked about at the end of lastyear and the beginning of this year is her staying mentallyfocused. I feel that she’s one who can be as good as she wants tobe, but she can also bring herself down. She’s too good of a playerto get down on herself like that.”
Wolke sees this season as being her chance to play moreconsistently. “I think last year was a lot of an adjusting year,”she said. “I think it will be a lot easier being in the program fora full year now.” Last season, Wolke finished second on the team inrebounds and blocks and fifth in scoring.
Going into last season, expectations were high for theCardinals, but internal conflicts and lack of team chemistrybrought about a disappointing 19-13 record. Louisville lost threeof its final four games by an average of 11 points. “We wereselected to be so good last year,” said Wolke. “We had the talentand the team to do something special.” However, last year’s outcomeinspired her during the off-season. Over the summer, she ran a lotand got into the gym as often as she could.
Wolke feels that the team has gotten a new life after thedisappointment of last season. “I think this year’s going to be abig turnaround with attitudes,” she said. “The chemistry on theteam is great this year.”
This season, Wolke is also fueled by the drive to make her finalyear as a Cardinal a memorable one. “I was thinking at thebeginning of the year, it’s getting to an end now,” she said, “mylast year of playing. I want to try to make the best that I can ofmy final year.”
“I wish I would have had the chance to have her for four years,”said Clapp. Regardless of the season’s outcome, people can count onone thing to be consistent; that will be the smile on AmandaWolke’s face.
