Arizona scored a huge recruiting coup on Saturday when they landed Finnish power forward Lauri Markkanen.
The 6-foot-10 Markkanen chose Arizona on his visit after also tripping to Utah and North Carolina this week.
“I think I have a chance to go play against great guys every day in practice,” Markkanen, who is Sean Miller’s first 2016 commit, told Scout.com. “I think I can get minutes here. I like everything I see here.”
Said his Finnish coach Hanno Mottola: “I know he has felt comfortable with Arizona all summer and enjoyed Sean Miller’s visit and his own visit. There is a big chance to play right away and the uptempo style suits him.”
Markkanen averaged 18.2 points and 6.3 rebounds at the recent FIBA U18 World Championships. He is projected as the No. 20 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com.
“He is an ideal stretch power forward,” Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com said. “Good athlete, terrific shooter, can create a little bit off the dribble. Can take the rebound and go coast-to-coast. Competes on defense even though he’s not a great shot-blocker or rebounder. I really like his upside. It’s very hard to find guys like him these days, everybody’s looking for guys like that. He can play a little bit of five in college because he’s got such got great size. He’s really improved in the last year and a half.
“If Lauri were in high school I think he would be a top-25 caliber recruit in this class. You can see the caliber of schools going after him, that he’s going to be a pretty good college player. I think he’s an NBA player for sure. Whether he stays one year or two years or more I’m not sure at this point. Transition to college is always a little bit tricky for the European guys but he’s as skilled as any power forward in the class that I’ve seen once you get out of the elite Harry Giles and guys like that.”
