RECRUITING

Recruiting Romeo Langford: Inside decisions regarding Kentucky basketball, UNC and others

Fletcher Page
Courier Journal
New Albany basketball standout Romeo Langford sat with his parents as several speakers praised his athletic prowess and general demeanor during a ceremony where he received his McDonald's All-American jersey on Thursday. 2/22/18

Romeo Langford entered the timeout huddle, his team down big, and the impression he got was that his coach wasn’t in control.

This was during a tournament last summer, and Langford, one of the nation’s top recruits, was playing for the USA's under-19 squad.

His coach was Kentucky's John Calipari.

Romeo later told his father, Tim Langford, that Calipari "couldn't adapt to what was going on against Canada," Tim said. 

What happened in the weeks following the United States' bronze-medal showing at the FIBA World Cup continued the progression of Romeo's young career, empowering him to adequately deal with the ups and downs of a high-profile recruitment including major colleges like Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and others. 

More:John Calipari's U.S. team wins bronze at U19 World Cup with blowout over Spain

The United States lost 99-87 to Canada in July, the first time since 2011 Team USA didn't win gold. Langford appeared in only five of eight games and averaged a team-low 5.8 minutes.  

Tim moved to defend his son in a phone call to Calipari. 

Tim said Calipari, who selected Romeo to play for his U-19 Team USA at the World Cup in Egypt, told the Langford family months earlier in their New Albany, Indiana, home he couldn't wait to coach their son, both internationally and potentially at Kentucky. 

But Romeo, the 6-foot-5, five-star shooting guard considered the No. 5 overall senior in the country, played only eight minutes in the opening game and back spasms limited his availability the rest of the event.

Tim said he didn't like what he saw. He didn't see what Calipari said was going to happen. 

"I just told him, 'You came in our house, said you couldn't wait to coach our son and do this and that. You had the opportunity before his back started bothering him. I didn't appreciate it because you said you wanted to coach him and you had the chance to do it.'" 

Romeo cooled the situation.

He told his dad, despite what he saw in the huddle against Canada, he liked Calipari and wanted to keep Kentucky in the running for where he might play college ball. So Tim called Calipari again, asked to set up a visit in the fall and waited for the word.  

"I don't have to play the game," Tim said. "Romeo does."

Calipari never called back. 

And with that, Kentucky ended its courtship of Romeo. Though Romeo and his father briefly differed about Calipari, the hierarchy for decisions during Romeo's recruitment was established. 

"He always knows his dad has his back," Tim said. "The family has his back and he's in control."

'Family still loves Romeo regardless'

Tim Langford wanted to call his son Valentino.

That was a short-lived idea before Sabrina Langford told her husband no. So they compromised on the name Romeo and the couple set out to raise their son, like their two older daughters, Tisha and Tiffany, to be respectful, believe in the man upstairs, work hard in the classroom and to always be comfortable being his own person. 

Along the way, raising Romeo Langford led to one of the best prep basketball careers in Indiana state history and a high-profile college recruitment that's still on-going. Following a state title in 2016 and the fourth-most points (3,002) scored in state history, Romeo said he intends to choose between Indiana, Vanderbilt and Kansas later this month, the culmination of hard work, dedication and handling his college basketball decision-making process exactly how the Langford family wanted. 

"We're going to do it the way we want to do it and I told me son, 'however you want to do it, it doesn't make a difference,'" Tim said. 

Langford's recruitment 

► Why would Langford choose Kansas? Trio of McDonald's All Americans explain
► Why would Langford pick Vanderbilt? Darius Garland and Simi Shittu explain
► New Louisville coach Chris Mack reaches out to Romeo Langford

Tim and Sabrina were both great athletes. She starred in basketball, softball and track. Tim played it all — basketball, football, baseball, tennis, track — but he had other interests, too.  

He took acting classes, danced and learned to play the trumpet. 

"I didn't get caught up into what my friends were doing," he said. 

That's something Tim and Sabrina said frequently to their children. Try stuff. Do something different. In athletic ability and a shy demeanor but willing nature, Tim says Romeo is his spitting image.

In the fifth grade, when Romeo could already swish jump shots with perfect form and starred on the football field, he asked his parents for a trumpet. He quickly went from beginner to a solo and, like his dad, stopped playing before he got to high school. 

"I thought that was pretty cool for him to get into that and actually tackle it," Tim said.

Romeo said he couldn't recall the specifics about the last time he really made his parents angry. It was a long time ago and ultimately not a big deal. 

"Something happened in middle school," he said. "I forget. It was dumb."

Tim remembers. Romeo didn't lie about something that happened at school, but he wasn't forthcoming with the truth, either. So Sabrina didn't let him go out with friends as planned that night, Tim "leveled his voice up" to make Romeo understand and a lesson was learned. 

"Knowing that whatever goes on outside the home, the family still loves Romeo regardless, on and off the basketball court," Tim said. "I think that's very important for him to know." 

If he wasn't on this basketball star track, Romeo said he would major in engineering and hoped to design houses for a living. His favorite subject is math because he enjoys using numbers to solve problems, but he also was a natural in throwing balls through hoops.

That was a simple equation.  

One night, Tisha, Tiffany and Tim took aim at a hoop latched to a door in the hallway of their New Albany home. The miniature ball rolled to then 4-year-old Romeo, who sent the first shot swishing through the net from about 10 feet away. Tim told the girls to give it back to him and nine more shots went in before he missed. 

I said, 'Man, we might have something here,'" Tim said. "I said, 'Yeah, he's going to be all right.' He's special, you know."  

'That made me proud'

New Albany High basketball coach Jim Shannon knew more than four years ago what needed to be done. But he preferred Romeo Langford show he deserved a starting spot.

So Shannon kept the freshman on the bench to begin a preseason scrimmage at Bosse High in Evansville, Indiana.

“He was fine with it,” Shannon said. “And then he scored 25 points, had four blocks, four assists and a couple steals. He was the best player on the floor. It was so obvious."

Also:Langford will visit Indiana one more time so the Hoosiers can 'have the last word'

Romeo was the focal point from then on. He led the Bulldogs in every statistical category as a freshman and they won state his sophomore year. He chased Damon Bailey's records and became a nationally known basketball figure the past two seasons. 

Each home game, New Albany's 4,000 seat gymnasium was sold out, and crowds filled gyms on the road, too. People came to see Romeo on the court and, adults and children alike, stayed for hours after the buzzer to get his autograph or a photo. 

Romeo perfected his signature and smiled for every selfie. 

"I feel like if people could take time out of their day to watch me play," he said, "then I owed it to them to spend time with everybody after each game."  

Romeo showed up at kids' birthday parties and last spring attended a service in support of a New Albany boy who lost his mother to cancer. 

"I wanted to be there," Romeo said, "because if he looked up to me and he's going through a hard time, I can make his day better."

Early in Romeo's high school career, Tim and Sabrina let him go off on his own. His first trip without his parents was to an AAU event in Las Vegas. And then he went to Egypt with Calipari and Team USA by himself when most of his teammates had parents accompany them. Cell phone service was poor and texts and calls weren't possible. 

Romeo managed his back spasms and lack of playing time without his parents' guidance. 

"That made me proud," Tim said, "knowing he could handle those type of things on his own." 

As Romeo's confidence grew on and off the court, so too did Tim's and Sabrina's trust in him to make his own decisions regarding his college recruitment. 

After his list was cut to seven schools — Indiana, Kansas, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA — Romeo, Tim and Sabrina each wrote down a top three. 

Tim admits his list included North Carolina. But Romeo pointed to something, which Tim didn't disclose, that he didn't like when he watched coach Roy Williams run his Tar Heels through practice. 

"He said, 'Dad, I'm not sure about that and me fitting in with this happening,'" Tim said. "That's how zoned-in he is as far as each school, and he's very knowledgeable of these coaches."

Cutting Louisville last fall in the wake of Rick Pitino's firing "was a no-brainer," according to Tim. But when Chris Mack reached out to Tim last week on the same afternoon it was announced Mack would become the Cardinals' new coach, Tim relayed the message to Romeo, who said he appreciated the gesture but that nothing really changed.

Tim figures at least 10 schools reached out in the past month in an effort to gauge interest in a potential late run for Romeo. Each time a coach calls, Tim says thanks and that he'll let his son know. 

"I try to keep my composure because Romeo's so laid back with this and I'm so excited," Tim said. "I'm ecstatic because I can't wait to see him at the next level."

With every detail dissected by Romeo, the list was officially cut to three — Indiana, Kansas and Vanderbilt — by November. And he'll make his decision as the final part of a basketball journey that makes the Langford family proud. 

"My three didn't make it," Tim said. "My wife's three didn't make it. Romeo's three made it. So we made sure it's going to be his decision. And the three schools that he has are three great universities, any way you want to put it." 

Fletcher Page: fpage@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @FletcherPage. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/fletcherp