MINNEAPOLIS - Colton Iverson, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound post player from Yankton has made a verbal commitment to attend the University of Minnesota and play basketball for the Golden Gophers and Coach Tubby Smith.

He made the commitment to Coach Smith and Assistant Coach Ron Jirsa during their visit to the Iverson home on Wednesday.

Colton made the decision earlier in the week and is relieved to have the decision over.

"I really had some great visits and met some outstanding coaches - it was a great experience but right now I am just really excited about Minnesota and playing for Coach Smith and his staff," he said.

Iverson had a great visit to the Twin Cities a couple of weeks ago and being able to spend some time with the coaching staff and being around the players just cemented his feelings that this was the place.

"After the visit it was obvious that Coach Smith is not just a great coach but a great person as well. Coach Smith has great goals for the team, and he has proven he can make those goals a reality, and I feel very fortunate that I will have a chance to be part of that."

Iverson visited Creighton, Florida, and Nebraska, as well as Minnesota officially and also had unofficial visits to the University of South Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, University of New Mexico, and Iowa State. In all Colton received scholarship offers from more than 25 major college institutions, including multiple offers from schools in the Big East, SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and the PAC 10 conferences. Some of those schools that tendered offers included UCLA, Marquette, Kentucky, Washington State, Florida, Virginia, Iowa, and Cincinnati.