“Duke for sure”: College hoops fans react as 5-star Miikka Muurinen narrows down to 7 schools

Five-star recruit and No. 1 ranked power forward in the 2026 class, Miikka Muurinen, has narrowed his recruitment down to seven programs.

On Friday, Joe Tipton of On3 posted about this new development on Instagram, asking fans where they would love to see the 6-foot-10 forward go, and they responded in the comments.

The seven schools he is looking at include Arkansas, Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, NC State and North Carolina.

“The only two acceptable schools on this list are Kentucky and Michigan,” a user wrote. “It’s so obvious he’s going to Kentucky,” another user wrote. “be a hoosier,” a user pleaded.

Credit: IG/@tiptonedits

More users shared their opinions in the comments.

“Kentucky is the only correct choice. #BBN,” a user wrote. “He fit pope system the best💯 BBN,” one user advised. “Duke for sure,” another user wrote.

Credit: IG/@tiptonedits

North Carolina made the first move to recruit Muurinen, making him an offer nearly a year ago, with the Tar Heels' coaching staff visiting him in October. It is also important to note that UNC has an advantage because they are the alma mater of the forward's mother, Jenni, who played two seasons for the women’s team.

His father, Kimmo, was also a basketball player, representing the Finnish national team in over 150 games.

More recently, NC State and Indiana made their offers to the highly-rated prospect, and will be hoping to win the race to sign Muurinen. In 2024, he paid visits to Arkansas, Michigan and Utah, though the latter are now out of contention.

Muurinen is Finnish and plays for AZ Compass Prep in Arizona. He started playing in his home country before moving to Spain, where he attended Zentro Basket Madrid at the age of 15.

In the 2023-24 season, he moved to the United States, attending Sunrise Christian Academy.

Miikka Muurinen names biggest factor in college

In an interview with On3, Muurinen mentioned that he sees himself as a stretch four and that this is one of his biggest considerations heading into college.

”The biggest factor for me will be how are the schools going to play me,” Muurinen said. “That’s what matters. I’m comfortable as a stretch four, shooting the ball, catching it at the top of the key and using my dribble, catching lobs, you know the basic stuff as a four or five man today.”

The forward played for Bradley Beal Elite in the EYBL Peach Jam tournament last year, winning the tournament while scoring 21 points in the final.

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Edited by Gio Vergara