Sonoran Hot Reads: Lauri Markkanen the 4th-best freshman in college basketball so far

And really, the fourth-best in the conference

There was a pretty good amount of hype surrounding Arizona Wildcats freshman Lauri Markkanen, and he’s more than lived up to it so far. Through four games, the talented Finnish phenom is averaging 19.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game for Arizona. On Monday, Evan Daniels put Markkanen as the fourth-best freshman so far, but here’s the kicker, the three in front of Lauri are all in the Pac-12. The top three are: Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, and TJ Leaf. At least they’ll all get to play it out against each other eventually

- Markkanen played 38 minutes in Arizona’s tight win over Northern Colorado on Monday. Parker Jackson-Cartwright leads the way in the highlights package. Lauri also made a quick appearance in Seth Davis’ weekly Hoop Thoughts

- It will take some time for this team to find itself defensively

- GCU guard DeWayne Russell (also NAU transfer) was named the WAC’s Player of the Week

- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has lots of Starburst

- Gabe York is heading to the D-League

- Arizona jumped up to 8th in the AP Poll this week, while remaining 9th in the Coaches Poll

Football

- Here’s Todd Graham explaining how he knows ASU is going to get Arizona’s best shot on Friday

- Here’s Rich Rodriguez crying (11 minute mark) when asked about his son Rhett. Rich says he’ll be at Catalina Foothills’ championship game Saturday morning in Glendale

- Former Arizona player Kendal Franklin was named the Southland’s Defensive Player of the Week

- Several Arizona commits saw their recruiting rankings improve

Baseball

- Sergio Brown was voted the 21st-best recruiter by his peers. Jay Johnson also had some recognition that wasn’t counted

Other sports

- Women’s basketball plays at 11 AM in McKale on Tuesday

- Volleyball hosts Utah on Wednesday for Senior Day

Tucson news

- The Tucson Roadrunners have postponed their Tuesday and Wednesday home games as Craig Cunningham continues to recover in the hospital

- The USS Arizona memorial on the mall is just about done

- So this is a disgusting story about what happened at a local Village Inn

Beautiful Morning in Tucson. @KVOA @MorganTNN @totallytucson @TucsonNewsNow @kgun9 @VisitTucsonAZ @NWSTucson @TucsonStar http://pic.twitter.com/PCepwNQ28e

— Steve (@sparis35) November 20, 2016

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