Oct 19, 2015 12:21 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

After watching five-star power forward T.J. Leaf de-commit, Arizona head men's basketball coach Sean Miller secured a commitment from Finnish big man Lauri Markkanen.

According to ESPN, U.S. evaluators would likely rank Markkanen among the class of 2016's Top 25 prospects if he were not an international player. One unnamed NBA scout said the six-foot-11 big man is a well rounded scorer and could be an NBA Draft selection after one year in college.

"The amount of progress he's made in the last year is really impressive," the scout told ESPN. "He'll get picked whenever he declares.

"He's a really good athlete, can run, fluid, can really shoot, made some shots at the U18s that had some Dirk [Nowitzki] to them. He has unusually good footwork and nimbleness for a big."

Markkanen averaged 18.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in last summer's FIBA U18 European Championships.

Markkanen confirmed his decision to commit to Arizona to Scout.com. The Finnish center is technically Miller's first addition in the 2016 recruiting class after Leaf's decision to de-commit.

"They showed me everything that they have here and I liked it," Markkanen told the website. "I'm glad I have a chance to commit now and relax.

"All three schools are great and I knew it was going to be hard, but I think I made the right choice."

His overall rating remains unclear, as 247 Sports gave him a 0.9460 composite score and ranks him as the 18th overall power forward in his class. However, both ESPN and Scout.com believe he would be a five-star prospect and would rank among the nation's best big men if he were an American prospect.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit