Her real name is Charlene Taylor.

But her moniker on the phog.net Kansas University men’s basketball Internet message board is KLM – for “Keith Langford’s mother.”

An outspoken parent who will defend her son and his KU teammates against criticism and also offer both positive and negative comments online about Roy Williams’ coaching and recruiting strategies, Taylor likes her other title – Keith’s “best friend” – the best.

“I love that woman. I’d do anything for her,” Keith Langford, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard from Fort Worth, Texas, said of his mom, a counselor at Fort Worth Poly Technical School.

She’s well aware of her son’s admiration.

“He says (I love you) it a lot. I expect him to say it a lot. I’ve been the one to take him to games and practices and whatever,” said Taylor, a former UT-Arlington player, who has been divorced from Langford’s dad, Andre, another former Arlington player, for several years.

“He’ll call and leave a message on the cell or voice mail. One time I dropped him off at the airport, he called and left a message for me. He’s not the mushy type but has his little ways of telling me.”

Langford loves his mama so much – he usually calls Taylor every day before practice and after tutoring sessions, talking about “basketball, classes, former Team Texas players competing for other schools, anything,” she said – he tolerates her posting messages on the Internet.

While most fans on phog.net’s bulletin board fully support the team, there always are a few who hit the players hard with criticism.

Langford’s mom isn’t shy about putting fans in their place while offering her own opinions on the games, too.

“It’s the only message board the kids read. He hates it,” Taylor said of her son’s reaction to the Internet postings. “The kids realize there are some fair-weather fans, people who don’t know what they are talking about. I wouldn’t say I get enjoyment or pleasure out of it.

Keith Langford strains for a layup in the second half against Oregon's Ian Crosswhite.

“It’s what you do on message boards, you respond when things catch your eye. I don’t get mad at them. I just think some are … I won’t say stupid or whatever, but some don’t know what they are talking about.”

Mom the coach

Not to say Taylor doesn’t want the Jayhawks to win. She does.

And she wants Langford to shine.

So, Taylor, who coached Langford’s 17-under summer team and also North Crowley High’s varsity team during fall and spring tournaments, gives Langford regular coaching tips.

Tips on say, free-throw shooting.

Langford, who hit 69.9 percent of his charities last year, has made 22 of 42 this year for 52.4 percent. KLM recently indicated on phog.net she ripped into Langford recently for his lack of confidence at the line.

“I told him to watch himself on tape, to see if his routine is the same,” Taylor said. “He’s had the same routine since 10th grade, don’t change it now.”

Room for improvement

Taylor realizes her son is performing well at KU – he averages 17.4 points a game, up from last year’s 7.9 mark – but is capable of even more.

“I really can’t say it’s improved. He doesn’t get to do as much as he did in high school,” Taylor said of Langford’s overall game. “I guess his level of defensive intensity has improved. My personal opinion is Keith is only running on 75 percent of his ability right now. It’s different going from basically having the green light, doing what you want to do, to being a role player. It changes your game a lot.”

Taylor isn’t only busy communicating with Langford.

She has two other basketball-playing sons. Kevin Langford is a 6-foot-8 1/2, 218-pound junior small forward at North Crowley High, while Justin Langford, 11, plays sixth-grade basketball.

Kevin Langford is an elite player. He’s being recruiting by many schools, with Stanford and Kentucky being his current favorites.

“Kevin gets a couple of hundred letters, Fed Ex’s, e-mails a week,” said KLM, which, of course, also could stand for “Kevin Langford’s mother.”

“Out of 317 Division I schools, he has gotten 300 media guides in the mail this year. Coaches come to the games, send e-mails. It’s not a big problem. To me, it doesn’t get heated until summertime.”

Kevin Langford, by the way, also is considering KU. Conceivably he could be a freshman when Keith Langford is a senior.

“With the amount of scholarships (three) KU has for 2004, I don’t see Kevin as a small forward being one of their needs, really,” KLM said.

It’s a free country

KU assistant coach Joe Holladay recently attended a North Crowley game, ostensibly to watch Kevin Langford play. Holladay and Taylor didn’t discuss her Internet fame, which Williams recently was asked about on his Hawk Talk radio show.

“It is America. Do I appreciate it? If it’s negative, not one iota. I don’t care if it’s your mom, my mom, anybody’s mom, I don’t appreciate any negativity about our basketball team. But it is America,” Williams said, noting he hadn’t spoken to Taylor about the matter.

Taylor said, “After Roy’s radio show, Joe was here watching Kevin and said nothing about it. I’m a grown woman. What are they (KU coaches) going to say? My kid goes there, not me.”

She’s been to a pair of KU games this year – the EA All-Stars exhibition and last week’s contest at Tulsa. She’ll make the drive to Lawrence for the Texas and Arizona games in February.

“People come up to me and introduce themselves and call me by my moniker. What else do they know to call me? I answer to it,” KLM said. “I guess they feel they don’t know a person well enough to come up and say, ‘Hi, Charlene.’

“If I have an off night, I’ll come see him. If Keith is down in the dumps I make a point to go. He’s pretty close to the other guys on the team, so I don’t think it bothers him as much any more,” Taylor said of her son not getting to see her.

“He gets to see me maybe once or twice a month, which is enough,” she added with a laugh.

If Langford wants, he can see her postings almost every day on the Internet.

“It’s always better to get to talk face-to-face, but we talk enough and he definitely knows how I feel about him,” Taylor said.