College Basketball

Arizona Basketball Freshman Lauri Markkanen Receives four Nomination Awards

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:07 a.m. ET

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Fansided, David Rosen/FanSided via Zona Zealots

Arizona Wildcats power forward Lauri Markkanen has been nominated for four highly prominent NCAA Division I College Basketball awards.

Impressive would be a good way to describe the year freshman Lauri Markkanen has had. The Arizona Wildcats seem to find a way year after year to find these very highly talented athletes and Lauri Markkanen is certainly one of those.

With 25 games into the season Lauri Markkanen is averaging 15.6 points, 7.3 rebounds  and .9 assists per game. What stands out more then anything his how silky smooth is three-point shot looks.

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Currently, Lauri is shooting almost 48 percent from beyond the arc and ranks No. 1 in overall 3-point percentage in the Pac-12. Those kind of stats are quite rare for a 7-foot, 230lbs power forward is just unreal.

Yes, he had a little bit of a drop in the game against the Oregon Ducks, but he is only a freshman. The way he carries himself on the court is incredible to watch. Never really gets mad or upset when things aren’t going his way, almost Bjorn Borg like.

Markkanen always seems to find a way to make a big impact on the game when it matters most. An example of this is in the closing minutes of the Stanford Cardinal game this past Wednesday night in McKale Center.

From stepping out and shooting a three pointer, to dribbling down the paint, or grabbing another rebound, Markkanen is a multi-talented basketball player. As a result, he recently earned Pac-12 Player of the week and Oscar Robertson National Player of the week. Additionally, he has been nominated for the following highly prestigious NCAA Divison I college basketball awards: 

The last time their was an Arizona Wildcats freshman nominated for any one of these prestigious college basketball awards, was Mike Bibby. In 1997 Bibby was nominated for the John R. Wooden award, the Cats won it all that year.

Now 20 years later, it is ironic the Wildcats have an extremely talented freshman again, and championship hopes are in sight.

Hopefully great things are to come for both Markkanen and the Arizona Wildcats this year. We certainly know how valuable he is to us! Bear Down, Arizona!

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