Want to know what’s happening in the recruitment of Texas high school senior shooting guard Keith Langford?
“You can look on the Internet for little hints, innuendoes,” Charlene Taylor, mother of the 6-foot-4, 195-pound blue-chipper out of Crowley High in Crowley, Texas, said Wednesday, good-naturedly.
Taylor has the Internet hoops community buzzing with her posts on various bulletin boards.
She goes by the moniker of LM as in Langford’s mother.
A former basketball player at Texas-Arlington and former basketball coach at Fort Worth Poly High, Langford’s mother has agreed to answer questions of fans on the fastbreakrecruiting.com message board.
That, in fact, is her favorite board.
She also has signed up for a password on a couple of KU-related message boards.
Those who follow recruiting desperately want to know whether Langford will play ball at Kansas, Oklahoma or Cincinnati.
“That Rock Chalk (www.rockchalk.com) website has some hard customers on there. They have some naysayers, kind of cruel,” said Taylor. “There are some skeptics who are not too informed.”
Some fans, disappointed KU didn’t land California prep shooting guard Josh Childress, act as if Langford, who will visit Kansas on Nov. 4 for the Emporia State game, is a second-tier player.
He is not. Folks haven’t heard Langford’s name much because he orally committed to Mississippi last June.
He just recently re-opened his recruiting, de-committing little over a week ago.
“A lot of people on the Internet say, ‘This kid is not on anybody’s top 100 lists,”‘ Taylor said. “I tell them, ‘What top 100 list are you looking at?’ Just Rivals (rivals100.com)? Keith is Street and Smith All-American. Athlon Sports has him the No. 9 shooting guard in the entire nation.
“ESPN has him No. 42 nationally. That’s ESPN pretty reputable. Street and Smith is pretty prestigious, too. Some say he’s only No. 6 in Texas. We’ve got T.J. Ford (Texas signee), Daniel Ewing (Duke) and Jason Maxiell (Cincinnati) in Texas. We have at least six top prospects in Texas this year.”
Langford, who has already visited Baylor and Oklahoma he eliminated the Bears from consideration this week will visit Cincinnati today and Friday, then conclude with the KU trip.
“He’s had plenty of time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of OU,” Taylor said. “He’s ruled out Baylor pretty much. Cincinnati … my take on it is it is too far. Kansas has a good chance. His high school coach is real high on Kansas. He is probably more excited than Keith. Nothing really excites him. He’s quiet.
“He’s going to visit and we’ll see what is important the way the coaches and staff interact with players and way the players interact with him.”
Langford, a sweet-shooting lefty, averaged 19 points a game on 46 percent three-point shooting last year. He also grabbed just 9.6 rebounds boards a game.
An A-student, Langford has achieved a qualifying score on the SAT.
“Coach (Roy) Williams said he’d love Keith to play that two position,” Taylor said. “He likes his size, strength and ability to defend. Coach Williams has smaller guards like (Jeff) Boschee and Keith could be used playing two and defending the two. Keith is a rebounding guard. He is strong at 195 pounds. He benches 275.”
Coincidentally, Langford is a buddy of a top junior shooting guard in Texas 6-2 Bracey Wright of The Colony.
Langford’s brother Kevin is a 6-foot-7 forward. He’s in ninth grade.
“I’ll know more about recruiting when he goes through it,” Taylor quipped.
Proud of all her children, Taylor had some departing words to give some of the more negative fans who post on the Internet:
“Those people who talk about Keith not being good enough should go ask Roy Williams what he thinks,” Taylor said. “Neil Dougherty (KU assistant) was floored the day he came here. Keith scored 45 that day (for all-star tourney). He made 18 of 21 shots. He had 45, 27 and 21 in three games that day. They should check it out before they say negative things,” she concluded.
