Final Indiana GOP Senate Debate faces conflict: Romeo Langford's choice of college

Organizers of the final Indiana Senate Republican debate fixed a major speed bump this week — getting all of the candidates to participate.

However, there's still one matter that could be a problem. The debate on April 30 will occur at the same time that an Indiana basketball phenom will make his much-anticipated announcement.

In case you or the debate organizers hadn't heard, that's also when Romeo Langford will publicly reveal where he will be playing college basketball.

And he's narrowed down his choice to three schools: Kansas, Vanderbilt — and Indiana.

Campus ire: Students disrupt Jenna Fischer's DePauw event to protest racial slurs

Communication issue: Trump campaign rebukes Todd Rokita over yard signs

But you couldn't blame the Indiana Debate Commission for feeling pretty good about the situation earlier this week.

After all, the nonpartisan group had a timely date for the event, just a week before the primary. And they will have full participation from all of the candidates.

That wasn't a sure thing until Tuesday, when U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita said he would participate, after all.

At first, Rokita said he didn't think the nonpartisan commission should be sponsoring the event, saying such primary debates should be run by conservative Republicans.

But then he reversed himself, and on Tuesday, Rokita spokesman Nathan Brand released this statement: "Todd Rokita believes Hoosier conservatives deserve to know the truth so he will be participating in the liberal Indiana Debate Commission debate."

You could practically hear the sigh of relief, when Gerry Lanosga, president of the Indiana Debate Commission, released this statement later that day.

"Debate is a great option for Hoosier voters who may be undecided, and we're pleased that all candidates in this contested GOP primary are now 100 percent vested in this final debate before the May 8 primary," he said.

Whew! Glad that's out of the way.

But wait a minute. There might still be a pothole awaiting them: Competition for attention from the public.

Not only will Langford be making his announcement on April 30 at his high school gym in New Albany, but he'll be doing so at 7 p.m. — the exact time when the debate between Rokita, U.S. Rep. Luke Messer and Jasper businessman Mike Braun kicks off.

This Indiana GOP Senate campaign is one of the most-watched races in recent times with three candidates who have spent a lot of money and don't seem to like each other. The GOP primary winner will challenge U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, a Democrat targeted by Republican strategists almost as soon as he took office in 2012.

Even so, Langford has been the most-closely watched Indiana basketball prospect since Damon Bailey was tabbed the consensus National Player of the Year in 1990, before going on to play four years at Indiana University.

Langford is now the No. 4 scorer in Indiana high school history, scoring 3,002 points and averaging 35.5 points per game as a senior. He's also the nation's No. 5 recruit.

Langford's announcement will be made in public and live-streamed on IndyStar.com.

Organizers of the second Senate GOP debate dodged a similar sports-politics conflict on Sunday. That debate took place at 7 p.m., just after Game One of the playoff series between the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers — a major upset — had ended.

But this is more problematic — for obvious reasons.

Does anyone care to guess which event may get the lion's share of attention in this basketball-crazy state?

Call IndyStar digital producer Dwight Adams at (317) 444-6532. Follow him on Twitter: @hdwightadams.

Other stories of interest:

Olympic hopefuls: USA Basketball names Victor Oladipo and Myles Turner to team

They did what?: Why ESPN ranked Peyton Manning 17 places ahead of Tom Brady