…after a pleasantly uneventful signing day.

The press release:

The Minnesota men’s basketball program today announced the signings of Justin Cobbs, Royce White and Rodney Williams to National Letters of Intent. All three players will be eligible to compete during the 2009-10 season.

“We are pleased with the number of young men we were able to sign. We believe that we have improved our talent level with this class and have fulfilled our needs,”" said head coach Tubby Smith. “”This group has a lot of local flavor which stimulates a lot of excitement for our local fan base. One of the things we wanted to do when we came here was to give all of the young men that want to play at the University of Minnesota the opportunity to do so and I feel like we are doing that. We are excited to have Royce, Rodney, and Justin joining the Golden Gopher family.”"

Cobbs, a 6-3 senior guard at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, Calif., led the Knights to a 26-7 record in 2007-08. He was named the Co-Player of the Year in the CIF Conference as a junior and is a three-time CIF selection.

“”One of the things we needed was a point guard, because right now Al Nolen is the only true point guard in the program,”" said Smith. “”Justin a physical point guard who can score as well as defend and pass.”"

White, a senior at Hopkins High School, has scored in double figures in every game the past two seasons and scored 20 or more points 11 times last season as a junior. The Minneapolis native has averaged 21.2 and 21.8 points per game the past two seasons, respectively, and scored a career-high 33 points against Minneapolis Patrick Henry in 2007-08. White, a 6′8″” forward, was a member of Team USA at the Nike Global Challenge last summer and also participated in the Vince Carter Skills Academy.

“”Royce has a chance to really be something special here at Minnesota,”" said Smith. He is a talented young man who is capable of playing multiple positions and doing a lot of different things on the basketball court.”"

Williams, a native of Minneapolis, Minn. is a senior at Cooper High School in Robbinsdale, Minn. He led the Hawks to a record of 23-9 and a fourth place finish at the Minnesota State High School tournament last season while averaging 23.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 2.4 assists per game. As a sophomore in 2006-07, Williams averaged 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.3 assists.

“”Rodney is probably as athletic as any player we have here at Minnesota,”" said Smith. “”He is a young man who is still growing and he will have a chance to take his high school team (Robbinsdale Cooper) to a State Championship. He is a local player who will awe our fans with his athleticism.”"

The Gophers open the regular season at Williams Arena on Friday, Nov. 14, against Concordia-St. Paul in the first game of the NABC Classic, a four-team round-robin tournament hosted by the University of Minnesota. Game two will pit the Gophers against Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 15 with game three taking place on Sunday, Nov. 16 against Georgia State.

Single-game and season tickets are still available for the 2008-09 season. Fans interested in purchasing tickets may call the ticket office at 612-624-8080, or toll free at 1-800-U-GOPHER. Tickets may also be purchased through Minnesota’s official athletics department website, www.gophersports.com.

Mbakwe is scheduled to sign tomorrow.

Best last name since Ernest Nzigamasabo?

More…

I just got off the phone with Trevor Mbakwe. The former Marquette forward told me that he verbally committed to Minnesota tonight. The 6-7 forward was a star at Henry Sibley, before he ended up at Marquette. He’s playing at Miami-Dade Community College this season.

Mbakwe will bring a much-needed physical presence to Minnesota’s frontcourt. With Mbakwe signing on with Tubby Smith’s 2009 class, the Gophers may have one of the top 15 recruiting classes in the country.

Here

Former Marquette forward Trevor Mbakwe, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound sophomore at Miami-Dade Community College, gave an oral commitment Thursday night to play for Gophers coach Tubby Smith next season.

“It feels great to get it over with,” Mbakwe said. “My mother (Ann), called Tubby tonight to let me know I was going to be a Gopher. I was planning on waiting it out to see how things would go, but after talking with my family, they said why wait if I like Tubby and I felt I could come in and help the team right away.”

The former St. Bernard’s and Henry Sibley High School standout made his official visit to the Gophers last Friday while attending “Tubby’s Tipoff” at Williams Arena. He was also receiving scholarship offers from Miami (Fla.), Louisiana State and Oregon, among others.

The St. Paul native said he looks forward to doing “big things” with the Gophers in 2009-10 when he has two years of eligibility remaining. He will bring the physical rebounding presence Minnesota will need to climb to the top in the Big Ten Conference.

Mbakwe said he needed six stiches on his left non-shooting hand this week after cutting himself, but he should be fine when the season starts for Miami Dade on Halloween night. He will join Memphis commit Will Coleman in the frontcourt and expects to compete for a junior college national title.