Forum Tipoff: Romeo Langford shines, talks latest
SOUTHPORT, Ind. - On the outskirts of Indianapolis, five-star shooting guard Romeo Langford put on a show at the Forum Credit Union Tipoff.
In front of a packed house of over 7,000 fans, the 6-foot-4 senior who ranks No. 6 nationally went for 42 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks while leading his New Albany (Ind.) High team to a blowout win over Ft. Wayne (Ind.) North Side and their star junior, four-star Keion Brooks.
Down to a final three of Indiana, Kansas and Vanderbilt (Bryce Drew was on hand), Langford hit 3-pointers from 28 feet, broke down defenders off the dribble and ignited the crowd while efficiently dominating on both ends of the floor. When he hit his final three, it elicited a standing ovation with much of the crowd chanting "IU! IU! IU! IU!"
"I felt like I played real well on defense and offense," said Langford. "Especially on defense because Keion is a great player and I had to buckle down to try and contain him. I felt like tonight I was way more under control with my passes. Sometimes teams double team me and I throw the ball all around the gym and I felt like tonight I was under control and throwing it to my teammates.
The second-highest ranked prospect left in the class of 2018, Langford said that the recruiting process has gotten easier since cutting his list down to three.
"It's a lot smoother and easier to focus on three schools and just getting calls and texts from three schools," said Langford. "Just being able to watch three schools, I don't have to flip through the channels and find eight schools. It's just three."
Langford is already a legendary high school player in Indiana and has a chance to break the state's all-time scoring record held by Damon Bailey. First-year head coach Archie Miller has made it a priority to try to get Langford to stay home and play for Indiana. Langford says he's not feeling pressure to stay home.
"I don't feel pressure at all," said Langford about Indiana. "It's my decision and it's what I feel comfortable with. If it's to stay home then I'll stay home, there's really no pressure. I just have to make the best decision for me. Coach Miller is a real good coach. The Duke game impressed me the most, just him being able to come up with a game plan and stay in the game with Duke and they played them real well."
At Kansas, Bill Self and the Jayhawks have signed one of Langford's best friends, Quentin Grimes.
"Quentin is my boy, he's probably one of my best friends," said Langford. "We've been talking and now that he committed he's talking to me about Kansas. That's one thing that Coach Self and coach Jerrance Howard always talk about too, us being a one two punch with us being big guards is a hard matchup for the other team.
"They feel like if both of us come there it's going to an automatic championship because of the other pieces they have. The big men they brought in, David McCormack and Silvio De Sousa, they feel like that would be a hard team to stop."
Then there's Bryce Drew and Vanderbilt, who are selling Langford on being part of a super class with five-star prospects Simisola Shittu and Darius Garland.
"I really don't talk to Simi, but I do Darius and he works hard," said Langford. "We've been talking a long time, not even about recruiting, we've just known each other. Now that he's committed he's really talking to me about Vanderbilt and us becoming a big three up there.
"That's the main pitch, they've never really had a recruiting class with three of the top 10 players in the class, so that's their main pitch: 'Come and put Nashville on the map.'"
In the midst of his final high school season, Langford said that his plan is to keep watching his final three while focusing on his high school team, so a decision won't be coming soon.
"I'm probably going to wait until the end of the season to figure things out."
