The Gophers might have gotten their first commitment for 2013 yesterday, but there's still plenty more to focus on in the recruiting season, both for next year and beyond. Just a few notes from this week of action:

  • Minnesota had three official visitors this past weekend: Alvin Ellis (Chicago), Alex Foster (Chicago) and Tory Miller (Missouri).
  • Of course Ellis committed. More on that soon. And according to Gopherhole.com, Foster narrowed his list to Minnesota, Auburn and Tennessee.
  • While the Gophers were busy getting Ellis locked down, another local committed elsewhere. After visiting NC State over the weekend, Champlin-native Kyle Washington committed to the Wolfpack. Washington had previously edited his list to not include the Gophers.
  • According to RecruitLists.com, both Syracuse and Louisville will be at Robbinsdale Cooper to watch Rashad Vaughn (2014) this Wednesday. As you'll recall, Louisville was supposed to be there last week. If they're really coming back so soon, they must really like Vaughn. The shooting guard was offered on Friday by Kentucky after John Calipari visited last week.
  • Local blogger/tweeter TC Hoops Czar indicated that Grand Rapids star Alex Illikainen (2015) could be getting some interest from Kansas and could be getting a visit soon. Illikainen already has seven offers, including Minnesota. He visited Oregon this weekend.
  • Tyus Jones (2014, Apple Valley), the desire of nearly every big-name school around the country attended the Gophers football win over Syracuse on Saturday night.
  • Edina point guard Graham Woodward picked up another offer – from Penn State – this weekend. The Gophers have shown interest but haven't offered Woodward yet. Woodward will do his official at Penn State next weekend.
  • Nigel Hayes, a 2013 recruit from Toledo will make an official visit at Stanford this weekend. Hayes' top four schools right now are: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Stanford and Ohio State.