COLORADO SPRINGS – John Calipari said early in the process of selecting the team that will represent the United States in the FIBA U19 World Cup next month that one of his goals was to get shooting guard Romeo Langford smile. When that was relayed to Romeo, his response was, indeed, a smile.

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We can imagine Langford did again when he learned Thursday morning he was one of the 12 players – and four high schoolers -- chosen for the U19 roster.

The rest of the squad:

Bigs – Austin Wiley, 6-9, Auburn; Brandon McCoy, 6-11, San Diego State; P.J. Washington, 6-8, Kentucky.

Wings – Cameron Reddish, 6-7, Westtown School, Norristown, Pa; Josh Okogie, 6-4, Georgia Tech; Louis King, 6-8, Hudson Catholic HS, Columbus, N.J.; Kevin Huerter, 6-7, Maryland; Hamidou Diallo, 6-5, Kentucky.

Guards – Immanuel Quickley, 6-3, John Carroll School, Bel Aire, Md.; Carsen Edwards, 6-0, Purdue; Payton Pritchard, 6-2, Oregon.

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A 6-5 shooting guard, Langford will be a senior this fall at New Albany High in Indiana, a school located directly across the river from Louisville, which means it’s at the nexus of Cards/Cats/Hoosiers country. With IU under the direction of new coach Archie Miller, all three of those schools are pursuing him eagerly, along with Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Purdue, UCLA and Vanderbilt.

Calipari obviously will coach Langford in Egypt, but Miller, KU’s Bill Self and Carolina’s Roy Williams all visited the gym to watch Langford try out. Painter was the chair of the selection committee that trimmed the initial group of 27 prospects down to 18 after three days.

“I really don’t have a leader at this point, anybody that I’m leaning towards,” Langford said. He acknowledged the competition between the three “neighborhood” schools already is heated. “They don’t say it to me, but I feel like they do have a little competition on who’s going to talk to me first, stuff like that. Since they’re so close.”

Langford is rated the No. 5 overall prospect in the class of 2018 by Scout.com. His talent might be described as audaciously quiet. His brilliance is in the subtle methods he employs to free himself for scoring opportunities, in his penchant for always being in the exact right place to execute the ideal play. There are echoes of Brandon Roy and Klay Thompson in his game.

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Efficiency can be an overrated quality for a basketball player. It can be an indication that a player is judicious with his shot attempts and economical with his movement. It also can be proof the player never takes chances on being disruptive to opponents. Langford fits all the best basketball definitions of that description. He does not waste energy. He does not waste opportunities. He does not waste possessions. He does not waste time.

“He’s just special. The kid is special … and never says anything,” Calipari told reporters this week. “I’m just trying to get him to smile.”

Two of the most impressive plays Langford executed during his tryout weren’t so much basketball plays as the work of an outstanding football player. On one long pass that hung in the air a while, Langford alertly positioned himself to field it like Julio Jones trying to pull down a pass from Matt Ryan. Immediately after that remarkable catch and the subsequent basket, Langford converted to defense and contorted his body to deflect an inbound pass with a move that would have delighted Patrick Peterson.

“Growing up, I used to play football. That’s one thing, my dad wanted me to play football growing up. And then I stopped playing football,” Langford said. “He wanted me get that aggressiveness, being able to take hits, and the quick reaction things from football.”

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Langford gave up football in sixth grade. He thinks if he’d stayed with it, he’d be just as good at football as he is in hoops. (He said he sometimes wishes he could play in football games for New Albany, but he wouldn’t want to have to practice every day).

He apparently learned a lot in a short period of time. He has specialized in basketball since, and it’s obviously he is well-coached and an able learner. Because Langford’s play is so polished he can fit comfortably into the approach of whichever school he chooses.

Indiana’s coaches are trying to close the advantage the other programs enjoy because they’ve recruited Langford for a longer period. Miller has been at IU since late March. He did not waste time getting to know the state’s top prospect..

“That was like the main thing when I first met Coach Miller,” Langford said. “He told me I was his main target, especially considering I was an in-state kid. Just like if I was to commit there, all the things that come with Indiana. That was his main pitch to me.”

Louisville’s apparent disadvantage is the storm of negative publicity surrounding the program of late, which Langford said is not as disadvantageous as it might seem.

“Everybody should have known they were going to get in trouble, just didn’t know how severe it was,” he said. “It really doesn’t affect how I look toward Louisville, or how I like Louisville. I really just look at them the same way. If I didn’t like them, I would have just put them off to the side.”

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Langford said the students at New Albany are more or less evenly divided between UK, UL and IU. “And some Duke fans,” he added. But his English teacher, Suzanne Ponder, is a Kentucky grad and Cats fan, and doesn’t attempt to hide that.

Kentucky’s greatest potential advantage is Calipari’s status as Langford’s coach between now and July 9, when the medal games will be played. Calipari was permitted to say nice things publicly about Langford because he’s speaking in the capacity of the United States U19 head coach rather than the Kentucky Wildcats head coach.

“To call me special means a lot,” Langford said, flashing a glimpse of a pleasant grin and the work of his orthodontist.

“I feel like I smile a lot. Not as much on the court. I’m serious there.”