Langford's IU Commit called into question by Washington Post

[Muskie]

Link (https://www.wthr.com/article/kravitz-why-did-langford-select-iu-according-to-the-washington-post-it-was-all-about-cash) (Indianapolis WTHR)

On the night that Romeo Langford chose to spend one year, maybe two, at Indiana University, I waded my way through a pack of media who were trying to get a word with the reigning Mr. Basketball. I was not terribly interested in hearing from Romeo, though: I wanted to have a short conversation with his father, Tim, who was standing on the outskirts of the media scrum, a huge smile creasing his face.
"Why Indiana?" I asked him.
"Well, we looked at all three schools (IU, Kansas and Vanderbilt), considered who was staying and who was coming back and where he would be good fit on their team," Tim Langford told me. "One thing he (Romeo) told me was, he wants Archie (Miller) to put the ball in his hands, and good things will happen."
Now it's nearly a month later, and the Washington Post reported earlier Wednesday (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/before-romeo-langford-chose-indiana-adidas-made-sure-he-stayed-under-its-tent/2018/05/16/2c77d384-539e-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fd20a3bfacef) that Adidas, the apparel company that sponsors IU and several other big-time sports programs throughout the country, paid Tim Langford a nice sum of money to fund his AAU team, Twenty Two Vision.

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Here is the link to the Washington Post Article too (Link (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/before-romeo-langford-chose-indiana-adidas-made-sure-he-stayed-under-its-tent/2018/05/16/2c77d384-539e-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3cb2eb4ef83e))

[GIMMFD]

Yikes reading through most of it, his dad could have gotten $100-150k, there's no way Archie Miller didn't know that adidas was rampaging up this stuff, it smells funny, we're definitely going to be hearing more and more of this stuff since Louisville kind of broke open the door.

[paulxu]

I think Kansas is also an Adidas team.

[XUGRAD80]

Anyone playing for an Addidas supported AAU team, who ends up going to a university with ties to the same company.......their recruitment is going to questioned.

Now that certainly doesn’t mean that any NCAA rules have been broken, but it definitely LOOKS suspicious to many because of what the FBI has reported has happened with other schools, coaches, and families.

As longs as you have business interests providing money to individuals, schools, and organizations with the purpose being to publicize the products they produce and/or sell, we are going to see this repeated over and over.

[Xville]

Yikes reading through most of it, his dad could have gotten $100-150k, there's no way Archie Miller didn't know that adidas was rampaging up this stuff, it smells funny, we're definitely going to be hearing more and more of this stuff since Louisville kind of broke open the door.

But even if all of this is true, it's not illegal and it's not breaking any rules...plus it happens all the time with these top recruits. Check out the marvin bagley situation...makes Langford look like he got a free sandwich in comparison.

[GIMMFD]

But even if all of this is true, it's not illegal and it's not breaking any rules...plus it happens all the time with these top recruits. Check out the marvin bagley situation...makes Langford look like he got a free sandwich in comparison.

Yeah that's true, they mentioned Bagley and the guy from Miss State?? that actually got in trouble for it, the NCAA needs to really go through and vet their rule book a lot better and make these grey areas more clear. It's legal, which is scary, that means there's a whole shit ton more of this going on, and will continue to go on in the future.

[Xville]

Yeah that's true, they mentioned Bagley and the guy from Miss State?? that actually got in trouble for it, the NCAA needs to really go through and vet their rule book a lot better and make these grey areas more clear. It's legal, which is scary, that means there's a whole shit ton more of this going on, and will continue to go on in the future.

I think it's also very clear the ncaa plays favorites and has forever. I'm 99% confident duke cheats their ass off and never gets touched. Really that's what pisses me off the most about this whole thing.

[xu82]

How long does it take until the optics become unacceptably ugly? This needs to be addressed, and it just seems to get worse and worse.

[sirthought]

Here (https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/louisville/2018/05/17/star-indiana-signee-romeo-langfords-loophole-looks-legal/616823002/)'s another take from the Louisville Courier columnist.


Sure, it looks a little sleazy, particularly with the FBI investigating the role of shoe companies in recruiting. But really, where’s the harm? If Langford had been a tech whiz instead of a basketball star, and Apple or Amazon had paid to send him to Stanford, do you suppose anyone would object?

Why do athletes deserve less? They don’t.


And then there is this (https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2018/05/01/romeo-langford-decisions-how-iu-basketball-coach-archie-miller-landed-mr-basketball/568979002/) article from the Indy Star, which makes it sound like the shoe company had nothing to do with his decision to go anywhere.

[drudy23]

So adidas funneled money to the AAU team. What's illegal about that? Nothing.

There will always be legal work-arounds. Always. And sometimes, people will do illegal workarounds knowing the case to put together proving illegal behavior will be very long, hard and expensive.

[XUGRAD80]

The problem is not that a business wants to lend financial aid to an amateur team, it’s when it leads further. It’s when the aid is based not on the desire to give support for the sake of giving support, but when it is given with the expectation of getting something back, or when it leads to an unfair advantage for one university over another.

“Supposedly” the NCAA is dedicated to providing a “level playing field” for all of its members. Now we all should realize that is a myth, but it’s still what they want the public (and especially Congress) to believe. Now if they don’t start running around crying that the sky is falling and that these things need to be investigated, then there will be a public outcry for Congress to get involved. And we don’t want that!

[JTG]

Here (https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/louisville/2018/05/17/star-indiana-signee-romeo-langfords-loophole-looks-legal/616823002/)'s another take from the Louisville Courier columnist.




And then there is this (https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2018/05/01/romeo-langford-decisions-how-iu-basketball-coach-archie-miller-landed-mr-basketball/568979002/) article from the Indy Star, which makes it sound like the shoe company had nothing to do with his decision to go anywhere.

Zach Osterman of the Indy Star writes a article a day about IU bball, whether he has anything to say or not. Of course he's not gonna say anything bad about IU. Word is, Crean refused to deal with"shoe company recruits", and is one of the reasons he was replaced. Remember Archie is Sean's brother.