ZACH MCCRITE
marshal wince) and perhaps just eight months away from signing a contract
that’ll have him playing basketball for $2,100 per minute.
Life comes at you fast. But maybe not any faster than it’s come at Romeo. It
was at that moment I lowered my expectations for him and for the Hoosiers.
Not because I thought the season was going to be a failure. Just because
we all forget that these are kids that were barely old enough to vote on the
recent election night.
Perhaps something similar happened to Romeo during his brief respite
from the game. Before you knew it, Langford had checked back in after a
quick breather, and everyone who had seen him play on the red-glazed New
Albany hardwood saw the same kid lighting up his new home floor – Branch
McCracken Court at Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall, to be precise. Bulldog red
traded in for Hoosier crimson.
A jumper from the baseline here. A slash-and-gash, coast-to-coast transition
bucket there. Before you could blink, Romeo had 17 first half points.
And it was then that Southern Indiana fans who have hitched their wagon to
Romeo after watching him in high school could release some of that nervousness.
Let’s be honest, for the diehard IU fans that live in the reach of this publication,
there is a connection to the kid. He’s magnetic. He’s humble. It’s obvious his
parents have done a superb job on him. And I’m sure his parents are also aware
that most of Southern Indiana have adopted Romeo as their own, whether
Sabrina and Tim like it or not.
So, like good parents, everyone held their breath a little as Romeo started
his collegiate basketball career, however short it may be.
All for nothing. The jumpers. The slashing-and-gashing. The humility. The
stoicism. It’s all still there. And so is his game even as his comfort in the college
basketball world increases daily.
Exhale.
And, for the record, he’s changing me. With every subsequent game, win
or lose, my usual expectation-limiting is starting to dissipate. My excitement
beginning to percolate.
Before too long, I might be the fellow IU fan you don’t hate anymore.