Why Miikka Muurinen won't play for Arkansas basketball in Bahamas preseason tour
Miikka Muurinen won't play for Arkansas basketball this week at the Baha Mar Summer League. Here's why.
A European addition to the Arkansas basketball roster won't be able to participate in the upcoming Baha Mar Summer League.
Miikka Muurinen is still waiting for clearance from the NCAA after spending the previous year playing professionally in Serbia with KK Partizan, according to a Razorbacks spokesperson. Arkansas is hoping the situation will be resolved and it will have an answer before the regular season.
Muurinen is with the Hogs in The Bahamas. He is allowed to practice and take part in all team activities.
Arkansas begins the preseason tour by facing The Bahamas National team on Friday, July 31 at 6 p.m. CT.
Muurinen committed to Arkansas on April 27, becoming the fourth five-star prospect in this year's recruiting class.
The 7-foot forward is from Finland. He spent the 2023-24 season at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas and then joined Arizona's Compass Prep for the following year before returning to Europe.
Muurinen has spent time with Finland's senior national team. He averaged 6.6 points and 1.9 rebounds during EuroBasket 2025, helping Finland to a fourth-place finish.
Arkansas hopes Muurinen will fill the void left behind by Trevon Brazile as a stretch-four on coach John Calipari's roster. He is a big man that is more comfortable shooting 3s than posting up defenders on the low block.
"It's been a consistent journey," Muurinen said about Arkansas' recruitment on an episode of the Razorback Daily podcast .
"Like, 2024 summer when I had my first talk with Coach (Calipari) on the sideline, to me taking a visit, it's been really consistent since then," he added. "Pretty much every week or so, someone has texted me from the coaching staff, just making sure that I know they want me to play here."
Muurinen's absence will give more minutes to other members of the Arkansas frontcourt. Cooper Bowser is a transfer from Furman who has been with the Hogs throughout the summer, while Maper Maker, Caleb Ourigou and Ilia Frolov were late additions to the roster.
Redshirt freshman Paulo Semedo recently suffered a back injury in practice. His availability for the week is unknown.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
