Blanca Quinonez
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Aubrey's best year was 11 pts. and 29% 3-pt. shooting. I think people on this board are predicting much, much more from Blanca (i.e., starter and third leading scorer next year). Aubrey is/was extremely athletic but not a super skilled b-ball player. Hoping/expecting that Blanca's skills are significantly more advanced but don't expect her to be year #1 starter. That's a lot to ask unless we have another rash of injuries similar to two years ago.
psconn
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Blanca... 10.9 ppg / 27% from 3 for the 24-25 season.
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He's not saying her last name correctly either. Not saying the first N. He says Key-o-nez.
oldude
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Pretty good stats for an 18 year old playing in the Italian professional league with a bunch of grown women.
Charliebball
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Blanca appears to have better offensive skills than Aubrey has shown over the past four years although Blanca"s 27% three point shooting average shows she needs some work ........their transition games seem to be similar with Blanca having mastered the Eurostep and in-air adjustments that (no offense to intended) Aubrey just doesn't have........I'm expecting great things.......
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Well, if her all-around game (especially defense & the ability to turn a game around) is as good as Aubrey's (when she was close to 100%) then we'll definitely have a winner. I can't wait to see what she can do.
Charliebball
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I can't speak to that yet......she looks like she's got great anticipation and quick hands but Aubrey has been one of the best defensive disruptors and ball hawks I've seen at UConn in a long time.......
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Every season there is one incoming freshman who is pronounced the latest and greatest phenom capable of starting from day #1 and filling everyone's hopes, dreams and wishes. Two years ago Ice. Last year Jana.
Unless she's the second coming of Paige, why don't we slow down and be realistic. Best case she's a solid rotation player who by the end of the season can be trusted to play something other than mop up minutes. If we really need Blanca to be a THAT impactful this year, it means Ice and Jana haven't gotten better. And that is the thing that should scare everyone most.
Unless she's the second coming of Paige, why don't we slow down and be realistic. Best case she's a solid rotation player who by the end of the season can be trusted to play something other than mop up minutes. If we really need Blanca to be a THAT impactful this year, it means Ice and Jana haven't gotten better. And that is the thing that should scare everyone most.
donalddoowop
Who put the Bop in the Bop Shoo Bop?
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They don't play the same position. Ice and Jana's improvement should not affect Blanca's playing time.
I know the video only showed her make and no misses,But from what I saw, she will be a natural. Give Geno and Chris 3 months of direction and she could easily be a first off the bench starter. I saw the skills and Geno will bring out the refinement so she can be productive. I believe we have a winner here and I also believe with all my heart that we already have our big 3, Sarah, Azzi and Ashlynn. Blanca will be gravy and I only ask that JANA and ICE play as well as they did this year. I also expect that Jana and Ice will have improved for 2025. I am thinking NC NO 13. And remember 'Anything is possible!" GO BLANCA!!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!
Agree completely. While some parts of Blanca's game resemble Aubrey others don't. Aubrey was best as a 4, a great rebounder and defender, with limited perimeter skills. I paused the video when they showed Blanca's stats, and they clearly suggest we are talking about a 3, not a 4 or even a 3/4.
I think she could defend 4's, but her rebounding numbers are very much like an average 3, and way under par for a 4. Her handle and moves other than a straight line drive to the hoop (which she shares with Aubrey) are much better than Aubrey, and she draws fouls at an incredible rate.
Blanca's points per FG attempt is extremely high, due to a very good 2pt percentage and drawing so many fouls. At 27% how much of a 3pt threat she can become is still in doubt. Other than a very high rate of efficiency inside the arc, her other outstanding stat was the rate of steals, and blocks was pretty good (for a 3).
From video and stats there is not much reason to believe Blanca will be used or even considered at the 4, and therefore little threat to Ice, Jana or Ayanna, On the other hand she is a significant threat to the playing time of Ashlynn, Morgan, and Allie at the 3.
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Interesting how the reviewer of this video mentions that she will have to improve her defense. Would also love to see some evidence of her rebounding skills. Suspect UConn is getting an athletic wing who can run the floor well and seems to have a high basketball IQ. While opinions always vary, everything I have heard is that Blanca's offense is ahead of her defense but in any case, a good recruit.
oldude
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If you watch some older game videos where Blanca is facing players her own age, you will see her block numerous shots, make numerous steals and pull down lots of rebounds. She may not be another Sarah Strong. But then again she’s got the skill set to be good at all those things. I am confident that at UConn Blanca will become a complete player, who can impact the game at both ends of the court.
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Ashlynn was the third best 3-point shooter on the team at 41.1% just behind Paige's 41.9% and Azzi's 43.6%, and had a higher FG% than Azzi. She's also the most physically fit player. I would guess her minutes go up next season as she will likely be expected to help replace some of Paige's scoring.
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She looks like she will start immediately.
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Consistency on offense is still, without question, an issue for Ash. I hope she finds it this year. Not sure what the basis is for her being a scoring threat. Huge gamble to say that. She certainly CAN light it up, but consistency is missing
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Interesting analysis as a whole. This last conclusion has me thinking. You must be right that Blanca will be competing with Morgan and Allie for minutes, and especially Morgan. She’s a quick big kid like Morgan, and their skills overlap quite a bit. Notably, Blanca finishes at the rim much better than Morgan. Allie is a much better shooter than either of them and isn’t afraid to finish at the rim. But she lacks Blanca’s defensive quickness so far.
Ash is a different story, I suspect. She’s a much better shooter than Blanca is likely to be. She also is a brilliant defender within Geno’s scheme. Knowing your role in his defense is incredibly important and Ash has absolutely figured that out. Blanca will be just beginning while Allie and Morgan are still works in progress on defense. Ash’s value merely in terms of continuity will be huge. And there’s also the character issue: Ash is a rock her teammates can lean on and they all know it. The others can learn this from her, I’m sure. But they won’t start out the season already knowing how to be that too.
Sarah earned her starting spot before the season had begun. Will Blanca be able to do the same? Maybe, maybe not. But within some of the specialty lineups Geno now likes to tinker with, I think she’ll prove to be a stalwart. The small ball lineup often consisted of Paige Azzi Sarah Ash and Kaitlyn or KK. Without Paige, there’s room for a medium-big like Morgan or Allie or Blanca to shine. Whoever it is will be playing out of their usual niche on defense, boxing out bigs, denying entry passes etc. And on offense, if they have a strength, it will buy them minutes. For Allie, it would be perimeter shooting. For Morgan, it will be scrapping for loose balls and hunting putbacks, and for Blanca it will likely be driving to the rim and offensive rebounds. She clearly brings similar skills to Morgan to such a lineup. I suspect one frequent version of the small ball lineup we’ll see is Sarah Azzi Blanca KK and Ash. But I really hope Allie and Morgan also find time in this lineup as well.
Another consideration is the transition game. Blanca has shown lots of evidence of being able to finish on transition. Allie and Morgan have not. As a PG in high school Morgan was instrumental in initiating the fast break. But she wasn’t typically the one who finished it. And Allie hasn’t had much opportunity to show how well she can do either.
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Charliebball
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Some of us made those wild claims about Sara and they turned out to be true despite the early season posts about Geno needing to stop her taking three-point shots because she "clearly" wasn't a very good outside shooter........Blanca looks like the real deal to me and I'd be disappointed if she doesn't establish herself as a really solid contributor next season....
oldude
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A great reminder to everyone just how much Sarah struggled at first shooting from the arc. She ended the season shooting a very respectable 39% from 3. Just imagine what it would have been if she had found her shooting stroke from game 1?
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Stats are misleading. It's more about the points scored (Azzi 462, Ash 308) than the percentage and most important the points in the critical games. No one is questioning Ash's conditioning, defense, or game impact and as long as she stays in her role with KK, the Huskies are good for another championship. But Azzi is the starter and Ash is not a PG, therefore I see a continuation of her coming off the bench.
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This isn't an Azzi vs. Ashlynn argument. This is an "Ashlynn will play less because of an incoming kid that's played zero minutes of American college basketball" argument. Geno has two spots in his starting line up to fill, and if you take a look at the current roster, it's slim pickins between kids trying to come back from long term injuries or those that have never played at this level. Geno has a grand total of 7 healthy experienced players right now, so two of Ice/Shade/Arnold/Ziebell are likely to fill those spots.
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