College of Idaho traveled far for Tuesday nightβs exhibition game β itβs more than 1,000 miles from Caldwell, Idaho, to Tucson β but among the travelers in the building, they didnβt come the farthest.
That would be Matti Morttinen, a journalist from Finland who traveled more than 5,000 miles to watch Arizona freshman Lauri Markkanen.
Morttinen writes for the Aamulehti newspaper in Tampere, Finland, a town approximately the same distance from Markkanenβs hometown of Vantaa as Tucson is from Phoenix.
Finland is optimistic for its homegrown star. Morttinen told a local TV reporter that Markkanen is the most significant prospect out of Finland ever, and that includes Hanno Mottola, a Finnish legend who had a standout career at Utah and played three seasons in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks. Β
