LJ b BB: The "quist"

By Ed Piper

We have to assume a letter got dropped off part of the name, but La Jolla baller Nick Hulquist's last name seems to mean "a branch or twig" in "a grove or wood" in Swedish. Only his dad (I'm guessing) can tell us for sure.

Groot is the little, tiny piece of root or twig that is an adorable character in the movie "Guardians of the Galaxy". What's funny is that, in contrast, our Viking "groot" measures a long 6-foot-4. Ask the Rancho Buena Vista guards who had to defend against him in the season opener--they had to deal with his unusually long size for a backcourtman.

So, appellation-wise, according to sources online, "hult" means "grove, a wood", while "kvist" (the spelling got Anglicized to "quist", we presume) means "branch, twig". I'm assuming the "t" at the end of "hult", "grove, a wood" got dropped somewhere along the line--possibly over the generations of Nick's dad's family, or for some other reason.

Anyway, "Forest Branch" helped stick it to RBV, as I was alluding to. Nick will tell you that his shooting was a little off. He obviously had quite a bit of energy, adrenaline, coursing through his veins as a result of the occasion being the season opener. It was his first varsity start as a junior.

He did hit the Vikings' opening shot from the top of the key, just inside the arc, otherwise it would have been a three-pointer. He did hit a three soon after, to bring La Jolla within two at 7-5 in early going.

His two free throws with 5:07 left in the game were clutch, giving La Jolla a three-point lead, 44-41. He hit another free throw, missing the other, subsequently with the Vikings now leading by 15. The game was pretty well in the freezer by then, only a minute or so left.

But the lasting image is of the enormous, leaping "big twig" with the giant mop of hair (he's let it go this year), driving in the lane and most often using his off-hand, his left hand, to put the ball up.

He missed a couple of these. But the point is this: He had no hesitation to speed the ball into the paint and to drive against all comers. It will be entertaining, once he settles into his rhythm, to watch him drive on one of the bigs in the county, and see how that comes out. He will be as tall and as high up as many of the forwards in CIF.

He carted home a solid 11 points in the opener, 5 rebounds--four of those off the defensive glass--four assists, and a steal, limiting his turnovers to 2. He shot 3 for 8 from the field, 37.5 percent. He was only 1 of 5 on two-point field goals, 2 for 3 on three attempts.

I'll take him over Ben Simmons. One, he's local. Two, he's ours. Three, he can shoot way better than the Sixer from outside. (Simmons has no range outside of five feet.) I'll take him over the "Greek Freak", Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee. Ditto all the aforesaid reasons except the outside shooting.