Indiana Basketball: Romeo Langford brought buzz back to Bloomington in lone season

It’s that time again where we take a look at the Indiana basketball roster and break down the season of each player. Today is Romeo Langford.

Previous Reviews: Juwan Morgan | Zach McRoberts | Evan Fitzner | De’Ron Davis | Devonte Green | Justin Smith | Al Durham | Rob Phinisee

Romeo Langford grew up as the ‘next best player in Indiana’ and when he announced his commitment to the Hoosiers, a program that was becoming an afterthought, was thrust right back into the public eye.

A top-5 recruit, Langford came into his freshman year with expectations of bringing Indiana basketball back to relevance and also a return to the NCAA Tournament.

Though Langford was not able to bring the Hoosiers back to the Tournament, he did bring Indiana back into the public conversation. Indiana returned to the rankings for the first time in a couple of years, and barring an incredibly uncommon run that saw them lose 12-of-13 games in the middle of the season, an NCAA Tournament berth was in sight.

Now, he is off to the NBA Draft and some may consider his lone season a ‘failure’ and call him ‘soft’, but what exactly did he bring to Indiana this year?

Let’s take a look at his year in review.

2018-19 Season in Review

Langford came out of the gates hot, scoring 20+ points in three of his first five collegiate games, including a double-double as well against Arkansas.

Scoring in double-figures in his first 17 games, Langford seemed to hit a freshman wall soon after, averaging just 8.3 points over his next three games and scoring less than 15 points in 10 out of the final 15 games of the season.

With a career high of 28 points twice, he scored above 20 points in 11 games throughout the season. The scoring was never an issue, but it was the assertiveness and aggression that was sometimes questioned for the freshman.

Often times shying away from the ball and hovering on the wing in crucial situations, he had 17 games were he took 12 or less shots. Obviously you don’t need someone to take 20 shots to take over a game, but when the offense would struggle, which it did frequently, you would love your best scorer to be much more demanding.

Missing the last three games of the season, all in the NIT, Langford’s career will end at Indiana scoring just nine points on 4-of-12 shooting in the Big Ten Tournament loss to Ohio State.

Overall, Langford averaged 16.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game in his lone season in Bloomington.

What’s Next?

Declaring for the draft a couple of weeks ago, it is very much assumed that the 6-foot-6 guard will keep his name in the draft and forego his remaining three years of eligibility at Indiana.

A projected lottery pick, Langford has been tabbed anywhere from as high as seventh in the draft to as low as 17th, mainly falling in the early teens.

Wherever he goes, he will look to make an immediate impact on a team that has some decent pieces around him, as teams that were in the playoff hunt.

One team to keep an eye out for is that of the Miami Heat.

Currently projected as 13th in the draft, they are losing to-be Hall of Famer Dwayne Wade to retirement and need someone to fill that hole on the wing. With some nice pieces in Miami, Langford would be able to come in and be a great additional scorer to a team that barely missed out on the playoffs.