Kansas basketball: Adidas scandal did not influence Romeo Langford
By Stan Unruh
Did the FBI investigation influence Romeo Langford’s decision to pick Indiana over Kansas basketball? Probably not as much as some want to believe.
On Monday, star guard Romeo Langford announced his intention to stay home to play college basketball. Did the FBI investigation that mentioned Kansas as a victim influence Langford’s decision? His father says it did. I don’t believe it. Romeo Langford was never going to play for Bill Self.
On Monday, Mike Miller detailed Langford’s decision to play at Indiana. The column on HoosierSportsreport.com says Langford’s Dad had concerns about Kansas basketball’s name on the FBI, Adidas investigation. The indictment announced April 10, by the Southern District of New York mentions Louisville, North Carolina State and Miami too. The Adidas bribery scandal also mentioned the brother of Indiana’s head basketball coach last winter.
According to his statement to Mike Miller, what bothered Langford’s father is Romeo getting questions about the scandal. As a matter of fact, Indiana is also an Adidas school. Did Langford’s father consider that? Isn’t it possible someone might ask his son about Adidas in Bloomington?
For weeks, Romeo Langford had three teams including the Jayhawks on his final list for college basketball. While he waited until the final day of April to make an announcement, the latest indictment didn’t play into his ultimate decision. Langford was headed to the Hoosiers. Kansas basketball fans can hope and believe he wanted to play for Bill Self. Langford wanted to stay home just as Trey Young did a year ago.
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The negative surrounding Kansas basketball and this Adidas scandal is unfortunate. Nobody likes the negative headlines and the teasing from rivals. However, if Romeo Langford really wanted to play for Bill Self, his dad would not care about what others did, said or might ask.