Wednesday marked Lauri Markkanen’s first time on the Jon M. Huntsman Center floor. Arizona practiced at the Utah Utes’ arena leading up to Thursday’s NCAA Tournament opener against North Dakota.
It almost wasn’t that way.
Markkanen was a star for Arizona on Thursday night, scoring 20 points and grabbing six rebounds in a first-round win. Local fans surely imagined what life would have been like had the Finnish freshman chosen the Utes over the Wildcats.
Utah was once seen as Markkanen’s likely landing spot. The Utes had a few things in their favor, namely that one of Markkanen’s mentors is Hanno Mottola, a Utah alum and the last great Finnish basketball star in the Pac-12.
Markkanen remembers his visit to the Utah campus quite well.
“I like Utah a lot,” Markkanen said. “I remember that it was College GameDay in football against Cal, and I left at halftime. I remembered the gym, and we practiced there (Wednesday). It’s bringing a lot of memories from two days.”
Markkanen visited North Carolina. Tar Heels coach Roy Williams mentored Markkanen’s father, Pekka, at Kansas.
He also visited Tucson.
“When I got to Tucson it was pretty close,” to picking Utah, Markkanen said, “but that (Arizona) was the best choice for me and I don’t regret it.”
