Geno on Blanca | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Geno on Blanca

Sluconn Husky said:
Per 100 possessions:


Aaliyah Chavez: 30.1 pts, 6.1 rebs, 6.7 assists, 2.8 stls, 26.2 field goal attempts


Jazzy Davidson: 27.6 pts, 11.8 rebs, 6.7 assists, 3.4 stls, 27.7 field goal attempts


Blanca Quinonez: 30.9 pts, 8.7 rebs, 5.7 assists, 4.5 stls, 21 field goal attempts
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Not surprised that the UConn player is the most efficient....
 
For me, it’s just a matter of time until Blanca is fully equal to Sarah in poise, control and efficiency. Is it a matter of weeks or months? When it happens, those two pillars of basketball excellence will carry this program to sustained great.
 
Bone Dog said:
For me, it’s just a matter of time until Blanca is fully equal to Sarah in poise, control and efficiency. Is it a matter of weeks or months? When it happens, those two pillars of basketball excellence will carry this program to sustained great.
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I agree. Blanca has a 5th Gear and a level of fearlessness that is uncommon. I remarked/wondered in another thread that if UCONN had successfully recruited Jazzy Davidson, then Blanca might not be on the team. I am ecstatic that she is a Husky and look forward to her continued growth.
 
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Bone Dog said:
For me, it’s just a matter of time until Blanca is fully equal to Sarah in poise, control and efficiency. Is it a matter of weeks or months? When it happens, those two pillars of basketball excellence will carry this program to sustained great.
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Omg can’t believe the board has already moved from “Sarah is an otherworldly unique talent “ to “eh there already is someone who will be just as good as her.”

🙄
 
Bone Dog said:
For me, it’s just a matter of time until Blanca is fully equal to Sarah in poise, control and efficiency. Is it a matter of weeks or months? When it happens, those two pillars of basketball excellence will carry this program to sustained great.
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Interesting. I wonder how it will work out. Remember, Sarah was a starter as a freshman and and was WBCA AA on the 10 player team (I believe that already puts her up on the wall of honor). I get that Blanca is not starting so her numbers and minutes will be less, so it's not a fair comparison of their production.

Eye test - Sarah was a more polished freshman than Blanca. Blanca has more innate athleticism, but Sarah is sneaky athletic. I'd love to see next season, when both start, how their numbers work out. Sarah is just so smooth, and again eye test, I don't see Blanca at her level. But you know, as someone else said, how blessed are we to have players of this caliber that allows us to have these debates??!!!
 
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EricLA said:
Interesting. I wonder how it will work out. Remember, Sarah was a starter as a freshman and and was AP 2nd team AA (I believe that already puts her up on the wall of honor). I get that Blanca is not starting so her numbers and minutes will be less, so it's not a fair comparison of their production.

Eye test - Sarah was a more polished freshman than Blanca. Blanca has more innate athleticism, but Sarah is sneaky athletic. I'd love to see next season, when both start, how their numbers work out. Sarah is just so smooth, and again eye test, I don't see Blanca at her level. But you know, as someone else said, how blessed are we to have players of this caliber that allows us to have these debates??!!!
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No, AP 2nd team doesn't do it, has to be 1st team. It's the WBCA 10 member that has her already up there.
 
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Vowelguy said:
Omg can’t believe the board has already moved from “Sarah is an otherworldly unique talent “ to “eh there already is someone who will be just as good as her.”

🙄
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If you have a different opinion on Blanca's potential, you should feel free to offer it. As for me, I think she will develop equal "poise, control and efficiency" -- if you think that's all there is to Sarah, that's on you.
 
I finally realized which UConn great Blanca reminds me of. Sarah Strong! That's right, Sarah Strong. She can score like Sarah, play defense like her, drive to the basket like her, knock down 3's like her, rebound like her. When you think about it, they are so similar, and Sarahs enthusiasm is starting to rev up on the court as well. Not exactly alike, but the same talent is there, so next year we will be looking for the third scorer again, because Sarah and Blanca will be the big two for the next two years. Go Huskies!
 
I don’t think I’ve made any comments in regards to Blanca. Not even in the discussions of how she has been playing against women in Europe just barely into her teens.

This kid has been blessed with outstanding physical abilities who has directed those abilities towards at least one game that interested her and where she finds joy, basketball.

There may be many young girls trying to play basketball in Europe from other countries at a very young age and we’ve never heard about it. What we do know is that Blanca’s parents allowed that to happen for her… (as did Gandy’s? Simulator but different)… We also know Blanca was being successful, growing into the system, and being good enough to make team rosters.

Now 12 games into the season without summer development time with her future teammates and becoming acclaimed to Stores. She came straight from Europe to begin fall classes if I’m understanding correctly.

We’ve seen a young girl with tremendous talent trying to do just a little to much and getting out of control to mostly always being in control. Really Quickly! Smart, very smart.

We’ve seen this girl developing an understanding of how things are done in Stores Ct. and how as she becomes her best self she’s making a champion ship level team better. This I think demonstrates her intellect. This is one smart girl!.

See this girl smiling as she comes off the floor? See her being acknowledged by her teammates.
? Yep this girl is integrating into the Stores culture.

Yes, Blanca comes in at around the 5 minute mark and has an immediate impact on the game. Blanca impacts the game anytime she walks onto the floor.

Is she as good as Sarah? Ah gee that’s a strawman discussion. They both are outstanding but have had entirey different journeys coming together at Stores.

I suspect we’ll be seeing Sara picking up some Blanca tools as we’ll be seeing Blanca picking up Sarah tools.

Over time things overlap for me but it seems to me that Blanca came to Stores about as fit as Ash did as freshman.

What’s the saying? This is the worse you’ll ever see Blanca play.

It’s Good being a UConn Women’s Basketball Fan!
 
Something new about Blanca is that she finished her first semester with 4.0 GPA... Not sure what it's means but I heard that is a good thing. Unfortunately for Blanca she will never rebound as Sarah... But she can do all the rest!
 
Majic Hands said:
I don’t think I’ve made any comments in regards to Blanca. Not even in the discussions of how she has been playing against women in Europe just barely into her teens.

This kid has been blessed with outstanding physical abilities who has directed those abilities towards at least one game that interested her and where she finds joy, basketball.

There may be many young girls trying to play basketball in Europe from other countries at a very young age and we’ve never heard about it. What we do know is that Blanca’s parents allowed that to happen for her… (as did Gandy’s? Simulator but different)… We also know Blanca was being successful, growing into the system, and being good enough to make team rosters.

Now 12 games into the season without summer development time with her future teammates and becoming acclaimed to Stores. She came straight from Europe to begin fall classes if I’m understanding correctly.

We’ve seen a young girl with tremendous talent trying to do just a little to much and getting out of control to mostly always being in control. Really Quickly! Smart, very smart.

We’ve seen this girl developing an understanding of how things are done in Stores Ct. and how as she becomes her best self she’s making a champion ship level team better. This I think demonstrates her intellect. This is one smart girl!.

See this girl smiling as she comes off the floor? See her being acknowledged by her teammates.
? Yep this girl is integrating into the Stores culture.

Yes, Blanca comes in at around the 5 minute mark and has an immediate impact on the game. Blanca impacts the game anytime she walks onto the floor.

Is she as good as Sarah? Ah gee that’s a strawman discussion. They both are outstanding but have had entirey different journeys coming together at Stores.

I suspect we’ll be seeing Sara picking up some Blanca tools as we’ll be seeing Blanca picking up Sarah tools.

Over time things overlap for me but it seems to me that Blanca came to Stores about as fit as Ash did as freshman.

What’s the saying? This is the worse you’ll ever see Blanca play.

It’s Good being a UConn Women’s Basketball Fan!
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Blanca has charisma coming out of her ears. What value does that have on a basketball court?
When I see it myself I think of someone like Harry Belafonte.
Her last presser, she was on fire. Didn't matter what she said.
Watch on youtube this year's edition of Standard- In Season- Episode 1- Ring Celebration. Everytime the camera hits her, which seems pretty fast and random she dominates. Crazy!
 
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Molisanos said:
Something new about Blanca is that she finished her first semester with 4.0 GPA... Not sure what it's means but I heard that is a good thing. Unfortunately for Blanca she will never rebound as Sarah... But she can do all the rest!
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It's not clear that she will ever become the passer Sarah is. But that's asking her to become one of the great passers in the game today. So, I'll cut her some slack on that one. Also, to appease @Vowelguy, she doesn't finish at the rim as sure-handedly as Sarah, nor does she see the court quite as well -- judging from her passing mistakes. She doesn't appear to be quite the shot-blocker Sarah is, though this may be because she deters shooters.

What she does comparably well is pick pockets, and shoot 3s -- she's even doing that at a better clip right now. She runs the floor more quickly, though Sarah doesn't really need to be any quicker than she currently is given how well she uses her body against defenders. It's surprising how differently the two of them run in the transition game. Sarah never seems rushed and isn't concerned about outrunning smaller guards since she is confident she can score over them. But Blanca runs in a headlong sprint, as if she were racing herself down the floor. It's kinda thrilling to watch. Where Blanca's quickness advantage really shows up is in her half court drives to the rim. It looks like she can break down most defenders off the dribble. I think her perimeter accuracy plays a role in this, since this requires defenders to stay too close to her. The funny thing is that Allie -- who is nowhere near as quick as Blanca -- is able to snake her way to the rim as effectively as Blanca. Go figure.

As for the rebounding, Blanca doesn't seem to be as focused on position and boxing out as Sarah, and I'm not sure she has quite the strength in her hands that Sarah has. She can address the one perhaps more than the other.

One thing she is when she comes off the bench is explosive, which is quite a contrast to Sarah who is more like the rock that her teammates can rely on. The missed layups and bad passes get in the way of her playing a similarly steadying role to Sarah so far. This may change. But much as KK and Ash could change games when they came off the bench last season, Blanca can do that all by herself.
 
Bone Dog said:
It's not clear that she will ever become the passer Sarah is. But that's asking her to become one of the great passers in the game today. So, I'll cut her some slack on that one. Also, to appease @Vowelguy, she doesn't finish at the rim as sure-handedly as Sarah, nor does she see the court quite as well -- judging from her passing mistakes. She doesn't appear to be quite the shot-blocker Sarah is, though this may be because she deters shooters.

What she does comparably well is pick pockets, and shoot 3s -- she's even doing that at a better clip right now. She runs the floor more quickly, though Sarah doesn't really need to be any quicker than she currently is given how well she uses her body against defenders. It's surprising how differently the two of them run in the transition game. Sarah never seems rushed and isn't concerned about outrunning smaller guards since she is confident she can score over them. But Blanca runs in a headlong sprint, as if she were racing herself down the floor. It's kinda thrilling to watch. Where Blanca's quickness advantage really shows up is in her half court drives to the rim. It looks like she can break down most defenders off the dribble. I think her perimeter accuracy plays a role in this, since this requires defenders to stay too close to her. The funny thing is that Allie -- who is nowhere near as quick as Blanca -- is able to snake her way to the rim as effectively as Blanca. Go figure.

As for the rebounding, Blanca doesn't seem to be as focused on position and boxing out as Sarah, and I'm not sure she has quite the strength in her hands that Sarah has. She can address the one perhaps more than the other.

One thing she is when she comes off the bench is explosive, which is quite a contrast to Sarah who is more like the rock that her teammates can rely on. The missed layups and bad passes get in the way of her playing a similarly steadying role to Sarah so far. This may change. But much as KK and Ash could change games when they came off the bench last season, Blanca can do that all by herself.
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A couple of good points here and I'll add just one. As much as I'd like to see BQ continue to make 3s at her current pace, I'm not sure she can maintain this level of accuracy long term for a fundamental reason. In another post I mentioned that I'd like to see her get hooked up with a good shooting instructor during the offseason to develop a 2-3 dribble pull up J that would be very effective because of her ability to get to the rim. I also think it would do wonders for her catch and release 3s. She's what I call an "arm shooter'. She uses arm motion to propel her shot as opposed to Fudd who uses minimal arm motion and more of a wrist/hand controlled release which is much more consistent and sustainable over the course of a season/career. The rest of her game is pretty much what I expected from her Campobasso videos.
 
Molisanos said:
Something new about Blanca is that she finished her first semester with 4.0 GPA... Not sure what it's means but I heard that is a good thing. Unfortunately for Blanca she will never rebound as Sarah... But she can do all the rest!
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This is a great accomplishment, though I recall Blanca saying that she was taking a couple of Spanish classes, which she though might be unfair.
 
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Bone Dog said:
It's not clear that she will ever become the passer Sarah is. But that's asking her to become one of the great passers in the game today. So, I'll cut her some slack on that one. Also, to appease @Vowelguy, she doesn't finish at the rim as sure-handedly as Sarah, nor does she see the court quite as well -- judging from her passing mistakes. She doesn't appear to be quite the shot-blocker Sarah is, though this may be because she deters shooters.

What she does comparably well is pick pockets, and shoot 3s -- she's even doing that at a better clip right now. She runs the floor more quickly, though Sarah doesn't really need to be any quicker than she currently is given how well she uses her body against defenders. It's surprising how differently the two of them run in the transition game. Sarah never seems rushed and isn't concerned about outrunning smaller guards since she is confident she can score over them. But Blanca runs in a headlong sprint, as if she were racing herself down the floor. It's kinda thrilling to watch. Where Blanca's quickness advantage really shows up is in her half court drives to the rim. It looks like she can break down most defenders off the dribble. I think her perimeter accuracy plays a role in this, since this requires defenders to stay too close to her. The funny thing is that Allie -- who is nowhere near as quick as Blanca -- is able to snake her way to the rim as effectively as Blanca. Go figure.

As for the rebounding, Blanca doesn't seem to be as focused on position and boxing out as Sarah, and I'm not sure she has quite the strength in her hands that Sarah has. She can address the one perhaps more than the other.

One thing she is when she comes off the bench is explosive, which is quite a contrast to Sarah who is more like the rock that her teammates can rely on. The missed layups and bad passes get in the way of her playing a similarly steadying role to Sarah so far. This may change. But much as KK and Ash could change games when they came off the bench last season, Blanca can do that all by herself.
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Nice post!
Personally I have no inclination to compare Blanca with Sarah.
I like analogies: if the team was an orchestra, Sarah could be the conductor or maestro, and Blanca could be one of the best performers like first chair violin. Blanca is enormously talented and her name is on the marquee, but Sarah can help anyone in the orchestra and she can hear the intricacies. Sarah gets off the podium and shows the flutist how to play a section of the piece. She knows what everyone is doing and she is a master of all.
BTW a great show about 10 years ago about the inner goings-on within a fictional NY Philharmonic, called Mozart in the Jungle, on Prime, won all the Golden Globes. ist couple seasons were super.
 
Skeets said:
Blanca is perhaps the most entertaining payer to watch. In terms of entertainment, she's very Svet-like.
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Yeah, that's your comparison.
 
Bone Dog said:
As for the rebounding, Blanca doesn't seem to be as focused on position and boxing out as Sarah, and I'm not sure she has quite the strength in her hands that Sarah has. She can address the one perhaps more than the other.
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Blanca has a LOT of rebounding potential. Boxing out is easily taught. Positioning is partly innate, but also partly due to where she starts out in the defensive/offensive set they’re running. (I’m convinced that’s why Shade gets almost as many offensive as defensive rebounds.) If Blanca learns to read the shot well as soon as it goes up, I bet the coaches will adjust her positioning in their sets, because to qoute Paige (regarding Ayanna), she jumps out of the gym.
 
Bone Dog said:
It's not clear that she ( blanca )will ever become the passer Sarah is. ...

Where Blanca's quickness advantage really shows up is in her half court drives to the rim. It looks like she can break down most defenders off the dribble. I think her perimeter accuracy plays a role in this, since this requires defenders to stay too close to her. The funny thing is that Allie -- who is nowhere near as quick as Blanca -- is able to snake her way to the rim as effectively as Blanca. Go figure.
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i hope this doesn't intrude on the blanca discussion. but i want to draw attention to your point about allie -- which i haven't seen mentioned before in any thread.

i hope it has been and i just missed it. it. is one of her talents that allie has displayed this season. it is extremely impressive and i wish she would employ it more and that the staff would encourage and exploit it.

unfortunately, finishing at the hoop evades many of her teammates.
 
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Centerstream said:
Isn't Lauren Betts a pretty good shot blocker? In the National Semi-final, ESPN was expressing that idea.
BTW, I am not defending her...at 6'7 I think that she doesn't dominate the game as much as I would expect.
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They mentioned she reached 100 during the game. May be that first block on Jana early.
 
Molisanos said:
Something new about Blanca is that she finished her first semester with 4.0 GPA... Not sure what it's means but I heard that is a good thing. Unfortunately for Blanca she will never rebound as Sarah... But she can do all the rest!
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Or pass as well
 
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