Arizona Wildcats basketball: On long trips, Finland's optimism, Kadeem's defense
Seen and heard at McKale Center during Arizona's 86-35 win over College of Idaho.Â
College of Idaho traveled far for Tuesday nightâs exhibition game â itâs more than 1,000 miles from Caldwell, Idaho, to Tucson â but among the travelers in the building, they didnât 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 Markkanenâs 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. Â
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But Ray Smith goes down again with what could be a significant injury.
Sean Miller says he'll use walk-ons and maybe have Lauri Markkanen play some three.
