Geno on Blanca | Page 3 | The Boneyard
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Geno on Blanca

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.
 
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.
 
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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.
Expand ...
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.
Expand ...

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!
Expand ...
Or pass as well
 
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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.
Expand ...
Blanca is truly outstanding already and it boggles the mind to think where she will be next (and the following two) season! I also agree with Bedford Fan that she is significantly taller than Sarah. As to whether she is/can be as good as Sarah, well, clearly she is not now, but who knows what might happen in the 3 1/2 years are left in her career?

Also, re your comment on Allie’s shiftiness around the basket? I think she is a much better overall player than she is given credit for. That play against Butler where she drove and sort of slipped between the two defenders to score the layup was really impressive. Yes, she’s not the quickest of our players but I think she will be one of those crafty players who uses guile and anticipation to be an adequate if not great, defender. I hope so, anyway. She is one of my favorites and I am hopeful she can, and will become a real contributor over her time here.
 
I wonder what Blanca will make of Hidalgo when they play ND. I don't think it will be a close game. But Hannah is sure to try to poach steals off Blanca. Will she be ready for this?
 
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BobbyJ said:
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.
Expand ...
Right. She hitting 57% from 3 so lets make sure we change her shooting motion-NOT.
 
MilfordHusky said:
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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So English classes for others might be unfair? For my daughter, yeah, but not for me!
 
Charliebball said:
I'm amazed that so many UConn players excel academically considering the number of hours they put into practices, travel and the games themselves....
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I don’t want to diminish their accolades but they usually only take 12 credits per fall and spring semesters ( take 6-12 during the summer sessions), they also have a team academic advisor that travels with them during the semesters to assist with the class work assignments. All that said, yes, they are students first and excel across the board as a badge of pride. Kudos young ladies KUDOS
 
DefenseBB said:
I don’t want to diminish their accolades but they usually only take 12 credits per fall and spring semesters ( take 6-12 during the summer sessions), they also have a team academic advisor that travels with them during the semesters to assist with the class work assignments. All that said, yes, they are students first and excel across the board as a badge of pride. Kudos young ladies KUDOS
Expand ...
Agreed but advisors and tutors can only do so much........the students still need to put in the work......at least at UConn that is.........😉
 
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