Yogi's Picnic Basket

I just think it's crazy that Vandy is selling winning to Romeo over IU & Kansas. That is the only reason I will think anything shady happened if Romeo chooses Vandy but it's still be a big ? for me. I just don't see it but I get why some do I guess. IU may be 16-13 but Justin Smith & Juwan Morgan will both compete for All B1G teams & Romeo would be a 3rd. Then add Rob, Jerome, Jake, Race, Damezi as well as what the others will bring back. DeVonte or De'Ron could become good to great as well. I'm higher on us than most but even negative people should be able to see that even with Garland & Shittu and him it's good but not enough. They have no solid pieces besides maybe Lee & Ryan the ND transfer. Nesmith is a prospect to watch in the future but not next year. Kansas has loads of talent and waaaay more than Vandy with all 3. It's confusing. One year of playing with a good friend even a best friend shouldn't hold that much value. That's why i get why people assume the Langfords are on the take, but I still don't and won't. He will be making plenty of money soon enough why risk it? Idk the longer I go on the more questions I feel could be brought up with this recruitment.

And I truly respect that. I wouldn't come here if it wasn't a trusted site for me. We have occasional posters that break through the cracks but things are simple for the most part. No hard feelings.

I haven't said Romeo to IU was a done deal and have said Vandy probably holds a small edge. I also have never been shy about who I really am. I've shared my articles with my name on them and my Twitter so I'm not hiding anything. I haven't even shared anything serious in awhile regardless of what I hear because I'd really like to keep writing for IU football. I don't want to derail a Romeo thread anymore though so it'd be awesome if we could get back on topic.

I hope you don't read into too much of what a lot of IU people say then. Every IU source was wrong about Garland and quite a few national guys as well up until the last two weeks. Other than that recruitment and supposedly a Billy D thing when I wasn't even writing and have no memory of but who knows who wasn't hearing things when it came to that, I've been right even if most is football and anyone that follows me off here knows how many recruitments I've been on for awhile and I've shared plenty from recruits themselves. I knew about Damezi, called him & Rob coming to HH as well which was a foregone conclusion for most but I did say it first from my direct interview with him and his dms are open he will tell you himself, I told everyone MONTHS ago Garland and Romeo wanted to play together and it was very real and I took loads of crap for it and now look. I'm not gonna name every instance I was right but that's enough. In recruiting you're wrong some and right some plain and simple dude. I don't mind getting bashed but this is getting annoying when you quote every post when I try to share things lol. I've backed off sharing more than just general info honestly for awhile, because I don't want to get people's hopes up and take the fall if they go south it's recruiting. It happens. So I just share info that's neutral and try having regular conversations about them. Tim Langford has said he wants Romeo to be sure and once a decision is made they will make sure it's the right one. So yes if saying he will like 90% of kids makes a decision and then makes sure it's the right one by taking some time is that crazy of a "source" then I won't share things like that either. I've been coming here for years and have developed some friends off of here so I won't just stop coming here.

Read the following post. I admitted I was pretty much guessing on the date lol so what is your point? All I shared was his family wants to have a decision and then take some time to make sure of it. I was sharing it because it seemed very pre mature that he was a done deal to Vandy. I did hear he wants to know beforehand just like 90% of recruits do, so I'm confused. I don't share anything worthwhile on here anymore for this reason. I don't even do updates on football recruits anymore, which is actually what I cover. Too much drama on here honestly it's annoying and sounds like too many people are too invested in decisions a teenager is going to make. I got arrogant with the Garland news I was given and got too invested I've admitted that. Either read what I say or don't man, my feelings won't be hurt.

I literally stated in the next post pretty much that that date is far from set in stone. I just know he plans on knowing his decision and then sitting on it for a week or two, so if he was to do it for McDonalds game, around March 10th would make sense. I wasn't trying to share earth shattering news dude. Not even close in fact most recruits probably know ahead of time before announcing kind of common sense. I was just affirming that in no way has he decided yet as whatever that report was trying to say.

You're fine man there is too many dates to remember with this thing. We'll see what happens but I'm pretty confident that if he's gonna visit it'll be by mid March. Sounds like a good shot it's the Mickey D's game for him. If that changes though, then so will the timeframe for a decision.

Date isn't set in stone I just know he wants to know his decision and have a week or two to think it through. McDonalds game is on the 28th of March so this is assuming he announces then. If he decides to do it before or after then things would change.

I've had problems with the app on my phone all night. Every time I type it freezes and then throws all the words in at once. On to the more important subject. Rabjohns report seems to be true. I don't know exactly what he is saying, but I know Romeo is wanting to have his decision done around March 10th and then giving it a week or two to make sure he feels right about it. Vandy sounds like they're the favorite right now, but IU should be able to pitch one more time. Take it however you'd like whether the world is ending and IU has no chance at getting him from whatever you've read today or they're very much in this still(that is my opinion). I know I've seen quite a bit today lol. The phone calls to the coaches doesn't seem correct though, so I should clarify I believe Rabby is right that a decision isn't made yet. Not just from what I've heard, but it just doesn't make sense for Tim to call them and tell them hey Romeo isn't going to Vandy....yet. It just seems like a weird thing to do and if he truly did, then this will end up feeling a lot like how Garland's last weeks before announcing felt and I believe the Langford's are a lot better equipped to handle this. They've done an outstanding job with this recruitment, why ruin it with just a few weeks left? That's just my opinion and some is what I've heard as well, but if a recruit has a favorite they usually aren't shy about it and if they don't want the cat out of the bag they just don't respond to every person claiming this or that specially seeing the source of this "rumor". Romeo to IU has been reported by plenty in the last few months, not so much the last month or so, but yeah you get the drift. Nothing important or drastic has changed IMO with this, but who knows crazier things have happened with teenagers and recruiting. I for one am ready for this to be over honestly.

The Langfords have kept this as close to planned as a top 5 recruit possibly could. They have given no hints on where he is going and from everything I've heard all 3 are still in this very much even after the weekend. Romeo enjoyed his Vandy visit, but it didn't blow him away by any means. I expect IU will get some momentum in the coming weeks and will get everyone's hopes up, because that is how this recruitment has went with no real info out there. It seems like whoever he is talking about or whose visiting him or who he's visiting gets the "he's definitely going there" talk, but this one is gonna end up lasting till the end. Once his season is over, that will be when some real info gets out there if any does. Let's hope we close the year out on a high note and Romeo makes another trip whether just to see the campus or a game. I'm still very confident that we are in this one still.

Romeo is just different. I got the chance to talk to him at the beginning of the season as I went to the first few games and didn't make it back until tonight, but he has matured so much in just a few months. The autographs are awesome, but what the videos and pictures don't show is how much he actually listens to fans talk. He was literally being told he needed to hurry at least 5 times because he would have normal conversations with people not just a quick hey. Not that he was immature before, you just didn't see him like tonight. He's a special kid. BTW him and Damon did get to chat a bit as expected. I heard some pretty cool stuff tonight and it was fun to be there to cover him. Gonna try making the finale if anyone else is making it that way.

In less that collapse under two minutes AGAIN and hit a buzzer beater which would make the rest of the game not so bad I guess for him, but I agree. I WANT HIM TO VISIT. Unless Chris's theory happens and he commits Friday. I guess that'd be cool too.

I just downloaded Instagram just for that and it's not on there. It was either deleted or non existent.

We are in great shape with numerous top 50 prospects in '19. Archie's recruiting tactics are fine. UCLA has a ton to sale and they are a school that catches eyes. Vandy beat out a lot more than us for Garland. Shittu was a weird recruitment. They beat out everyone but 2 other schools for one of the most sought after prospects of the whole class and could end up beating everyone including Duke, UK, Kansas I mean c'mon.

That's true but to an extent. I'm sure Romeo and his family don't want Garland narrating his decision and running his mouth all over social media. Being a reason they are friends make sense, but not this. Sucks. I hope Romeo gets to make this decision with people knowing it's his, not his dad's or not Garlands.

Whaaaaaaaaaat!!??? Link? If he's doing that than I don't have an excuse for that. Teenage kids are arrogant and that's fine to an extent, we've made them that way but all the attention we give, but going out of your way and bringing in other kids who want no part of it isn't cool plain and simple. If Romeo does choose Vandy now it's just gonna look more and more like he couldn't even make the decision for himself.

Darius rubs a lot of people the wrong way on the outside, but those close to him couldn't say nicer things about him. Kid needs to change that asap because he wants to be an NBA player and build his brand. What teenager is ready for that at his age besides LeBron though? With that said he fooled me. I truly thought he was a great kid who never talked close to the way he does. I didn't think he was a Rob Phinisee type but maybe a Tre Jones type. Negative. We're lucky with Rob. He's an awesome kid and we couldn't of gotten a better pg for the future.

FBI must be going off our tradition then lol. Said they're paying to stay at the top jkjk. In all seriousness we could be I guess. At least 3 dozen so that'd be quite a few teams. Once they drop their hammer it's really gonna affect college basketball. They have to change the rules. Let the kids who don't wanna go to college go to the NBA right away. Money will still exchange hands no doubt though. People already forget the first schools they named though so we will see if it changes anything. Still worth keeping an eye on. Like you said for us as well which hopefully doesn't happen.

FBI is apparently saying there are 3 dozen teams affected by the findings of their investigation and that they aren't mid majors either. "It's not the mid majors paying to get to the top, it's the ones already there". Kansas could be in some trouble. I find it hard to believe with that statement they come out clean. I really hope they wrap this up soon, like next week hopefully lol.

Vandy is doing a tribute to Luke Kornett & Damian Jones. Idk how much appeal those guys will have on Romeo since they have both bounced around between NBA & the G League. Who knows. Scholly wise Vandy is fine, but adding Romeo would cause them to be over one as most know apparently Larry Austin has been pegged as the guy to be a grad transfer to make room. Have seen some say Matthew Fisher Davis could apply for a medical hardship to come back too.

Even better right before his Vandy trip. Wasn't sure of the date but I knew he'd be at one of them. He will get some words with him so that's awesome. Hopefully the board doesn't collapse this weekend. Surprised Vandy pulled tonight's W out honestly. MSU's run came way to late.

Just for 2/23 which is when Romeo plays close to our very own campus, Archie will not be there. We play OSU, so it'd be very hard actually near impossible for Archie. A lot of games have fell on bad days for him to be able to make it if he wanted to, so people freaking out over that check their schedules it hasn't had a clear date that could be worked in and as I said most likely Archie is wanting to wait for Sectionals and beyond. If he thinks there is a certain game he will break the record he will do everything in his power to be there. Good news for us is, Damon Bailey will be there on the 23rd so that's nice. They two will talk I would bet money on that. Still a month left in this one so lots of things will go back and forth. I'm sure we will have some news that will make us look very good in that timeframe so don't worry.

The only bad news from today is that Self is doing an in home. I hoped he'd cool off selfishly after their recent commit, but Romeo isn't a kid you recruit over plain and simple lol so idk why I hoped that was even a possibility. Him going to Vandy is great news personally for me. He will see the HUGE differences between an IU game and a Vandy game and likely as someone stated, Florida mops the floor with them. They have had a few games that had no business in but if we know anything if it's close under 2 minutes Drew will lose the game and Romeo hopefully. Rivals did a prediction piece as well and had Vandy for now as the pick.

I appreciate that, but I write as a hobby. It doesn't pay the bills. I don't just write for IU either and I have a full time job that has nothing to do with writing as well as a father, but with that said, I'd use my articles and contacts to become more if I wanted, but I'm perfectly content writing for 2 of my favorite teams as a hobby to make a little extra cash. I don't have the time to do more with it. I don't think many people have ever made a career from a forum board, so if that were the case I'd be wasting my time. If people on here follow me on anything looking for Romeo news besides the occasional tweet how good he is lol since IU is very strict about those kind of things then I suggest they go elsewhere. As I said as well I have no clue where the kid is gonna go. I hear things yeah, but a prediction is about the closest I'll get to saying where he is going on here or Twitter or anywhere for that matter.

That's all great man, talking to players and interviewing them would never get me answers or be able to find out things that others wouldn't huh? Lol, I wasn't pretending to know where he is going. I can't really go into detail on things without getting in trouble so I'm not going to and that's why I shared things that if you pay attention, have been reported by others as well. It must be the way I say things that rubs some people wrong, but everything that you're talking about was the GARLAND RECRUITMENT. I also admitted that I was completely wrong on that as were plenty of others, so it'd be really awesome if that wasn't the go to anymore. I also appreciate the advice, but I'd rather not emulate anyone but myself, which has led to some pretty cool relationships when it comes to IU and the recruiting world. Thanks for the concern though.