You don’t have to be a basketball fan to recognize his name, or even his picture. He’s in the newspaper, on your radio and television and certainly all over the World Wide Web. However, just in case you’re one of the few who hasn’t heard of ultra-talented young man, please let me introduce you to Romeo Langford, a sure-fire professional basketball prospect, currently attending New Albany High School in southern Indiana. He’s not just your average silky smooth shooting guard who is six-feet tall and weighs in right at 200 pounds. This young man is smart, articulate and has excelled in advance mathematics courses — all the while making major college basketball coaches dream of his talents landing in their respective gymnasiums this fall as a college freshman. They all want him, and they all need him, too. He’d be an impact player no matter where he attends college. He’s that good.
Plenty of options
Like any highly-sought-after recruit, Langford has sent at least a few signals as to where he’d prefer to attend and has apparently narrowed it down to Kansas, Indiana and Vanderbilt for his new zip code.
Let’s start off with the Vanderbilt situation. Great school for academics, and generally an afterthought in terms of athletics. However, Coach Bryce Drew has a very good recruiting class coming in next year with Darius Garland, Aaron Nesmith and Simi Shittu, so Langford wouldn’t be asked to do it all himself. The Kansas Jayhawks you say? Well, they’re always good and can surround him with the most basketball resources of any of the three. There’s a reason Coach Bill Self is a Hall Of Fame inductee, and Romeo knows the Kansas lore very well by now. That brings us to Indiana University, and their coach, Archie Miller, who’s been salivating over the young man like a dog that stares through a butcher shop window all day. In fact, Miller in my opinion has been borderline embarrassing in terms of some aspects of his approach, but that’s really irrelevant, as I do believe Indiana is on the outside looking in at this juncture. And if Langford opts for another college, well, he’d be the most loathed opponent in IU history if he ever played against the Hoosiers.
However there is another option for this splendid player, and while I seem to be in the minority in terms of this, I do believe Langford’s best option is to play overseas for a year and then present himself to the NBA draft. Absurd you say? Hardly. There are a number of teams that would pay him handsomely, and all it would take is a seasoned agent to make it happen quickly. Forget the overrated value of the formal education that college allegedly provides, this is business, and for those who haven’t noticed, business is booming in college basketball. Major hoop programs, coaches, shoe companies, television networks, are all rich and getting richer. Their wealth is accumulated on the backs of players such as Langford, and nobody besides the players has to wait a year to earn and face a rookie salary cap to boot — the result of some ill-advised policies of the NCAA and the failure of the NBA Players Association at the bargaining table. They’ll tell you an 18 year old isn’t ready for professional basketball, and while some may not be, Romeo definitely is and then some.
Critical choice
The decision he makes is crucial, and even though I’m not one of those living vicariously through him, I do respect the fact that he may feel a brief stop in college will enhance his life and career. For what it’s worth Romeo, don’t leave all that money on the table. Then there is that pesky thing about getting hurt in college and never getting that big payday because you injured your knee while playing some meaningless non-conference game against a football school. It happens, so don’t let anyone tell you differently as you are rolling the dice when you leave yourself unprotected in this process.
To those who say I’m wrong, I’ll wager you have selfish reasons to watch this young man play and can’t even begin to fathom what he would earn competing abroad for one season. That’s money he will never recover if he doesn’t, and to me, certainly borderline criminal in nature. The decision is no doubt overwhelming for an 18 year old, but it’s time for all those who would exploit him to understand that the ugly business of college sports that finances your luxury cars and big homes in elite, wealthy neighborhoods all over America is broken and in need of major repairs. As for Langford, he more than likely will be jettisoned to a college campus, but it doesn’t have to be that way as he has options — ones that involve him getting a piece of the pie, one that he so clearly deserves. Take the money, Romeo, not because it’s available, but for one simple reason. You’ve earned it.
Danny Bridges, who truly hopes to see Romeo Langford playing professionally next season, can be reached at (317) 370-8447 or at Bridgeshd@aol.com
