Kansas University men’s basketball signee Keith Langford will be making his Allen Fieldhouse debut sooner than expected.
Langford, a 6-5, 200-pound guard/forward from Crowley, Texas who is expected to battle for a starting position next season, will be playing in the Jayhawk Invitational AAU tournament May 11-13 at Allen Fieldhouse, Horejsi Center and Sport2Sport.
Langford will be playing for Team Texas at the 30-team tourney, which will feature high school players 17 and under.
Langford’s Team Texas Teammates will include high school junior major college recruits Bracey Wright (6-3, The Colony, Texas), Bryan Hopkins (5-10, Dallas Lincoln) and Shelton Johnson (6-4, Arlington, Texas).
“There are a couple of reasons I want to play,” Langford, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s player of the year, said Wednesday. “First, I had (meniscus knee) surgery in March (27th). I’ve not been doing much playing, just working on my own. I’ve not been in much 5-on-5 top-notch competition.
“I want to get my game back to where it was (before surgery) and also show the fans who doubt me. I want to show them I can play, rather than me being some kind of band-aid recruit.”
The 17-year-old Langford he averaged 25.7 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists for 29-5 North Crowley High wants to play in the tourney so badly, he’s going to embark on a whirlwind schedule.
“It’s going to be pretty crazy. It’s prom weekend,” Langford said. “I will fly up Friday with the rest of the team sometime in the afternoon.
“Then I play Friday night (time yet to be determined) and again Saturday morning. I will fly back after that game about 3 or 4 p.m. (Saturday), then go to prom at 7:30.
“To come back … I’ve got a 6 o’clock flight Sunday morning. I’m OK with it. I feel as long as I’ve got my (plane) tickets and have transportation to the airport, I’ll make it.”
Langford’s prom date, however, has issued a warning.
“She told me, ‘I don’t want to get a phone call from you Saturday morning saying you won’t be back,” Langford said with a laugh.
“I said, ‘Don’t worry. There’s no bad weather in the forecast.’ If there is a chance of bad weather I won’t risk it. It’d have to be a last-minute thing,” he said of a Team Texas cancellation. “I have all the time in the world to play in Allen Fieldhouse.”
Langford said his knee feels fine.
“I am 100 percent now. I feel like I did before I hurt myself in November,” said Langford, who played the entire season with a hurt knee.
Langford was a unanimous first-team all-state pick in Texas. He made the Dallas Morning News first-team all-area team. Wright, who has received recruiting letters from Kansas, was the Morning News Player of the Year.
Jayhawk Invitational
The first-annual Jayhawk Invitational won’t be as big as future invites, Sport2Sport’s Roger Morningstar noted Wednesday.
“It’s going to be bigger and better in years to come,” he said of the Invitational, which is designed to lure some of the top high school juniors in the country. “We have 30-some odd teams this year.”
It has yet to be determined how much it will cost fans to attend the games. Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, Morningstar and others, are in the process of inviting teams and making schedules.
KU coach in Las Vegas
KU coach Roy Williams will be in Las Vegas this weekend to take part in a Nike coaches clinic. Some other coaches to lecture: Kelvin Sampson of Oklahoma, Matt Doherty of North Carolina, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Lute Olson of Arizona. About 3,500 to 3,700 coaches are expected.
Fox headed to Gonzaga
Former Colorado center Richard Fox tells recruiting writer Frank Burlison he’s headed to Gonzaga.