Geno on Blanca | Page 3 | The Boneyard

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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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 Allieā€™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, sheā€™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.
 
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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?
 
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.
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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 donā€™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
 
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DefenseBB said:
I donā€™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
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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.........šŸ˜‰
 
HuskyNan said:
I know a lot of Americans that failed English class šŸ˜‰
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I assume sheā€™s taking not a Spanish ā€œlanguageā€ class but a class about Spanish/Latin America taught in Spanish ā€”eg, I took a Spanish literature class. Anyone who was native/fluent wouldā€™ve had an advantage over the rest of us, who were simultaneously trying to translate unfamiliar words/phrases and then trying to understand themes.
 
Vowelguy said:
I assume sheā€™s taking not a Spanish ā€œlanguageā€ class but a class about Spanish/Latin America taught in Spanish ā€”eg, I took a Spanish literature class. Anyone who was native/fluent wouldā€™ve had an advantage over the rest of us, who were simultaneously trying to translate unfamiliar words/phrases and then trying to understand themes.
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It was just a lame joke
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Playing under control is a core concept of the UConn Way. Will Blanca get it? I think so, but she won't be trusted in a pinch until she does.
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I think so too...she was the only player with zero TOs today and her 2nd game this year with zero TOs, she had 5 TOs in the OSU game and hasn't had more thn 2 TOs per game since. Had a steady game with 4 assists, 4 rebs and 2 steals. She's not on the same street as Sarah, but she's approaching her area code. GO BLANCA!
 
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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.
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When you can shoot you can shoot, and Blanca can shoot. Don't care about mechanics. When she wants to shoot a pull-up jumper she will, because she can shoot( and pass, and rebound, and play defense, and....). She has such effortless ability that she may get bored with the college game in a couple of years. I think Sarah is already bored at times( the turnovers).
 
Blanca has already made great strides of improvement since the beginning of the season. With her athletism, IQ, quickness, speed, the talents that she clearly already has, she is going to be a great one and probably one of the legends. She reminds me of a bigger version of Gabby Williams. The senior year Gabby who could shoot, was a beast on defense, always led the press, etc. Gabby was a better rebounder, etc. But the coaches have time to work on things that need work. Anyway, for me this a huge compliment because Gabby is one of my all-time favorites. Gabby always gave her all and always made something happen. Blanca seems like that.
 
KCD said:
Blanca has already made great strides of improvement since the beginning of the season. With her athletism, IQ, quickness, speed, the talents that she clearly already has, she is going to be a great one and probably one of the legends. She reminds me of a bigger version of Gabby Williams. The senior year Gabby who could shoot, was a beast on defense, always led the press, etc. Gabby was a better rebounder, etc. But the coaches have time to work on things that need work. Anyway, for me this a huge compliment because Gabby is one of my all-time favorites. Gabby always gave her all and always made something happen. Blanca seems like that.
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A couple of areas of improvement or perhaps initial misunderstanding involve Blancaā€™s outside shooting and hustle. Early on, when Blanca signed with UConn, her shooting was considered a work in progress and some pundits indicated that she didnā€™t always ā€œplay hard.ā€

A couple months into the season, Blanca leads the Huskies in 3-pt shooting percentage at .533 and there is absolutely no question concerning her ā€œmotorā€ which appears to be set permanently in 3rd gear.

I donā€™t know whether the UConn coaches have had an impact in either area or it was all Blanca. Her shooting stroke from the arc is simple with a quick release. Obviously, she has the benefit of being surrounded by great shooters and passers, so she has the opportunity to frequently find space at the arc and her teammates will get her the basketball.

As for hustle, if anything the coaches have tried to slow her down so that Blanca doesnā€™t go charging down the court like a freight train about to derail. While there is still room for improvement, I agree that Blancaā€™s future is extremely bright.
 
oldude said:
A couple of areas of improvement or perhaps initial misunderstanding involve Blancaā€™s outside shooting and hustle. Early on, when Blanca signed with UConn, her shooting was considered a work in progress and some pundits indicated that she didnā€™t always ā€œplay hard.ā€

A couple months into the season, Blanca leads the Huskies in 3-pt shooting percentage at .533 and there is absolutely no question concerning her ā€œmotorā€ which appears to be set permanently in 3rd gear.

I donā€™t know whether the UConn coaches have had an impact in either area or it was all Blanca. Her shooting stroke from the arc is simple with a quick release. Obviously, she has the benefit of being surrounded by great shooters and passers, so she has the opportunity to frequently find space at the arc and her teammates will get her the basketball.

As for hustle, if anything the coaches have tried to slow her down so that Blanca doesnā€™t go charging down the court like a freight train about to derail. While there is still room for improvement, I agree that Blancaā€™s future is extremely bright.
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Perhaps a different environment, expectations, coaching style all contribute to who/what folks thought Blanca was vs what we are seeing on the court. No matter the reason, she's an exciting player to watch.
 
BRS24 said:
Perhaps a different environment, expectations, coaching style all contribute to who/what folks thought Blanca was vs what we are seeing on the court. No matter the reason, she's an exciting player to watch.
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My thoughts exactly. Iā€™d also add that last summer in reviewing video of Blancaā€™s Italian games as well as an exhibition tournament involving other high school recruits, I noticed that she played differently ā€” understood her role differently ā€” when she was playing with other high school players as opposed to playing with the generally older professional players. In a younger group, she sometimes seemed to hang back to leave room for teammates. With the older pros, she seemed to go all out all the time, including thrilling bursts of energy.

Blanca fits herself to the moment very well, and she seems to be getting better at reading the moment every game.
 
oldude said:
A couple of areas of improvement or perhaps initial misunderstanding involve Blancaā€™s outside shooting and hustle. Early on, when Blanca signed with UConn, her shooting was considered a work in progress and some pundits indicated that she didnā€™t always ā€œplay hard.ā€

A couple months into the season, Blanca leads the Huskies in 3-pt shooting percentage at .533 and there is absolutely no question concerning her ā€œmotorā€ which appears to be set permanently in 3rd gear.

I donā€™t know whether the UConn coaches have had an impact in either area or it was all Blanca. Her shooting stroke from the arc is simple with a quick release. Obviously, she has the benefit of being surrounded by great shooters and passers, so she has the opportunity to frequently find space at the arc and her teammates will get her the basketball.

As for hustle, if anything the coaches have tried to slow her down so that Blanca doesnā€™t go charging down the court like a freight train about to derail. While there is still room for improvement, I agree that Blancaā€™s future is extremely bright.
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And Best of all...She's only a freshman!
 
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boontonbomber said:
When you can shoot you can shoot, and Blanca can shoot. Don't care about mechanics. When she wants to shoot a pull-up jumper she will, because she can shoot( and pass, and rebound, and play defense, and....). She has such effortless ability that she may get bored with the college game in a couple of years. I think Sarah is already bored at times( the turnovers).
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Iā€™d only add, about that pull-up jumper which Blanca doesnā€™t appear to have yet ā€” yes, she can develop one, probably pretty quickly. But she didnā€™t come to Storrs already having worked that into her game seamlessly. I only mention this in regard to the natural comparison to Maya. The simple fact is Maya arrived with that dazzling pull-up jumper already fully developed. She already possessed a fully stocked offensive arsenal on day 1. I have a feeling Blanca will get there soon enough, but if and when she does, there will still be reason to tip our hats to Maya, a GOAT among GOATs.
 
This year's team wouldn't be nearly as complete as it is without Blanca.
She's the savior or what some would call a white knight.
She's making things possible by adding a dimension that if she were missing, some games might become much more of a struggle.
She's the missing link. and what I would have expected from the Luthuanian prospect Juste Jocyte if she had elected to come to UConn.
Juste never materialized but Blanca sure did instead.
 
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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.
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Agree that her form is horrible. Sometimes I'm stunned to see her shot go in (Just like sometimes I'm stunned to see Azzi miss). Like you, I'm a big believer in solid fundamentals. But I would bet that in her 4 years of professional play someone has worked with her to develop a good stroke, and I would bet with disastrous results. Sometimes you just have to admire raw athletic ability.
 
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