Arizona Marvelous Ideas: Sonoran Hot Reads: Lauri Markkanen the 15th-best freshman next year

Most people are going to be surprised by how good this kid is

With the 2016 Arizona Wildcats recruiting class at the forefront of everyone's mind, one guy that seems to go a bit under the radar is Finnish superstar Lauri Markkanen. He happens to be the only 2016 commit that has actually signed with Arizona at this point as well, which makes people forgetting about him even a bit more curious. But ESPN's Jeff Borzello is a big believer, putting the big man 15th in his list of best freshmen next year. Says Borzello of Markkanen:

"Markkanen hasn't been seen too much on American soil, but the Finland native could be one of the best frontcourt players in the Pac-12 next season. College coaches who scouted him said he would be a top-20 player in the United States, and one NBA scout said last week he would have been the best big man at the McDonald's All American game (although the group was without Giles, that's still lofty praise). Fortunately for Markkanen, Sean Miller badly needs frontcourt production with Ryan Anderson, Kaleb Tarczewski and Mark Tollefsen leaving and Dusan Ristic the only rotation member coming back. Markkanen will certainly get his chances."

Other Arizona commits Kobi Simmons and Rawle Alkins share the 21st spot on the list, while currently uncommitted target Terrance Ferguson is 16th and Josh Jackson is 1st

- Allonzo Trier shared why he's returning. He'll be joined next year by Ray Smith, who will finally get to showcase his talents, and debut a stronger body

- Forbes has Sean Miller in a category of his own among the top coaches in the game. That category? "So Close". Forbes should also like that Miller seems to have gotten an undershirt endorsement after sweating a lot against Wichita State

Football

- Pro Football Focus continues to be extremely high on Scooby Wright, putting him as the 44th overall pick by the Oakland Raiders in their latest three-round mock draft

- Cayleb Jones has apparently been taken off multiple draft boards because of off-field issues

- More on Scooby: Gabe took a look at the guys who will try to replace him

- The coaching staff earned its third commitment in less than 24 hours when TE Bryce Wolma flipped from Northwestern

- Arizona is average with what it does with its recruits. Cal is bad

- Speaking of Cal, they have a cultural problem in that athletics department as another coach has been found to have sexually harassed another person at the school

- Rich Rodriguez was back at his old stomping grounds of Clemson on Wednesday

Baseball

- D1Baseball put out its postseason field projection, and has Arizona as a 3-seed in the Gainesville Regional

Outside Hi Corbett Field, former spring training home of the Indians. I'm guessing late '50s, maybe early '60s. http://pic.twitter.com/4Y3aJcsDeX
— Sports Paper (@PressRoomGFS) April 6, 2016