ClayK said:
Jaquez had one offer -- from Cal Baptist or something -- before playing with Cal Stars. At that point, she got seen and was immediately offered by UCLA, her dream school.
It's unfair to expect Charmin and staff to uncover hidden gems that every other P5 coach missed out on, but on the other hand, Jaquez is just the kind of player Cal needs to unearth and get to first. Girls and families do remember who talked to them first, and sometimes it does matter.
Bottom line, though, it would have been just luck to find Jaquez before Cal Stars, but sometimes you need to be lucky.
(As for Cal Stars, note that at one point during the Stanford-UConn game, there five players set up for a free throw (UConn had pulled its players back) and four had played for Cal Stars.)
I'm surprised Jaquez was considered a hidden gem, you'd think her stats and having an older brother starting at UCLA alone would get her looked at, plus her HS produces a lot of D1 athletes in different sports, and a recent walk-on for our women's bb team. Given we don't have many players outside of California, you'd think every nook and cranny in Northern California would be looked into. Jaquez had plenty of ink online too (ranked top 5 in California by that Prep Girls service for the longest time), was posted about on this board very early (maybe freshman year, and probably by me lol).
I thought Maybe UCLA didn't offer until later b/c they had a commitment form the New Yorker Paris Clark who ultimately de-committed and seemed to have really been in on household names not just nationally but internationally this year, but Cal does have that reach at least not right now.
