But it's not easy to find quality players available late in the recruiting period. One player the Gophers have strong interest in is 6-6, 230-pound Chicago native Michael Haynes, who is playing for the Heat Basketball Academy in Virginia.
"He's an undersized power player, very physical with a football-type build," said Rivals.com recruiting expert Jerry Meyer, whose service ranks Haynes as a three-star prospect. "He's a very good rebounder and controls space.
"Here late in the game, there are a lot of schools digging through the woodwork trying to find big guys, so he has a lot of interest from different schools. He's going to wind up in a high-major school most likely."
Heat Academy coach Jason Niblett said Haynes has a list of six schools, including Duke, Marquette, Xavier, South Florida and Minnesota.
Niblett said he spoke with Minnesota assistant coach Vince Taylor several times, including last week. He also said the Gophers have watched Haynes play.
"I'm not sure how much interest or not that (Haynes) has in the Gophers, so we'll have to wait and see," Niblett said. "Vince told me (Smith) wanted to chat about Michael, so when time permits we will definitely do that."
Other power forwards the Gophers have shown interest in are Calvin Godfrey of Robbinsdale Cooper, Jon Horford of Grand Ledge (Mich.) High School, Majok Majok of Northfield (Mass.) Mount Hermon and Maurice Walker of Brewster (N.H.) Academy.
