With a packed gym watching, New Albany’s Romeo Langford picked Indiana over Kansas and Vanderbilt.

It was a long road to get to this point. Indiana didn’t seem like a serious factor in Langford’s recruitment until Archie Miller took over as head coach. Duke was an early favorite as he said that it was his favorite college basketball team growing up. Louisville and Kansas seemed like favorites through his junior season then Vanderbilt made a big push last June to make his final six. Since that point, it has been a roller coaster ride for fans of Indiana, Vanderbilt and Kansas.

Romeo Langford had an incredible senior year averaging 35.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game as New Albany went 25-2. Each gym that New Albany played in this season was packed to the rafters with fans wanting to see Romeo Langford. In many games, the crowd chanted “IU” or “Indiana” at some point in the contest.

Indiana emerged late in the process as the favorite. Kansas was still seemingly a player until the school was named in the latest FBI complaint. From there, it appeared that Indiana took the lead for Langford’s commitment.

Langford will be an instant impact player for Indiana. He’ll be expected to score 15-20 points per game as a freshman with Juwan Morgan, Al Durham, Justin Smith and De’Ron Davis helping to carry the scoring load. Langford’s commitment changes the Indiana roster in a major way. Indiana hasn’t had a scorer like him since Eric Gordon.

Romeo Langford joins Robert Phinisee, Jerome Hunter, Damezi Anderson and Jake Forrester in Indiana’s 2018 recruiting class.