Auburn Poses Experience, Depth in SEC Race

By Kenneth Cross

As the pages of the immense novel SEC Basketball Today flip to the preseason practice section, we see players hang around programs and sit to conspire longer than in the past.

“Get old and stay old,” is popular advice from coaches across college basketball.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl saw that come to fruition when 6-10 big man Johni Broome, 6-8 Jaylin WIlliams, and 6-11 Dylan Cardwell elected to come back to the Tigers for their senior seasons.

At 6-10, 240, Broome’s game has improved from the time he entered Morehead State in the Ohio Valley Conference to transferring to Auburn. Broome finished second team all-SEC last year and is a preseason first-teamer for 2023-24. His game has gotten better and now, he can be one of the top post players in the nation.

“He’s an old-school front line player,” commented Pearl. “He looks like he could play in a men’s league for the next 20 years.”

As you think about the success of Pearl’s Auburn program and the challenges in the SEC, Broome now feels like he could be an SEC Player of the Year candidate come March and would be player of the year quality on the national level.

“Throw him the ball on the block and he is going up, under, and fake,” said Pearl. “He can use either hand. He’s going to score. He’s going to get fouled. We are going to go through him.”

Pearl also explained the improvement in Broome’s game.

“People are going to double team him, so he is going to have to kick it out a little bit,” Pearl explained. “He’s got some maturity. Worked at his game.”

Broome led the Tigers in scoring as he averaged 14.2 points and shot 52.7 percent from the field.  He was third in rebounding with 8.4 boards per outing.

Pearl explained how Broome was able to be invited to the G-League Combine and the Auburn head coach, who enters his tenth season, said that Broome could have been a late second-round NBA pick last season.

Pearl discussed the hard work that Broome has put into becoming one of the top bigs in the nation as he has worked on himself physically which will show right away for the Tigers.

“His body is lighter,” said Pearl. “He is moving a little bit better. I think he can impact the game a little bit more on the defensive end.”

Bringing back Williams and Cardwell will help solidify the Tigers’ post game. Williams is going to provide athleticism on the boxes and in the open floor as it will be a factor with Cardwell’s physicality and strength.

Williams is one win away from becoming the winningest basketball player in Auburn history which gives an idea of his importance as a player in many ways, on and off the court. Last season, he shot 46.6 percent from the floor as he was a three-point threat in addition to using his athleticism in the paint and in transition.

The biggest intangible for the Tigers will be to improve their outside shooting as they only managed 31.5 percent from three last season.

The Tigers will be younger in the backcourt with 5-star freshman point guard Aden Holloway and Denver Jones coming over from Florida International where he averaged 20.1 points per game and shot 37.7 percent from behind the three-point line.

Holloway is a creator with the ball in both transition and in the half-court.

“I think quarterback play is pretty important in the SEC, right?” said Pearl. “It’s the only position we are young at with Tre Donaldson and Aden Holloway.”

Donaldson came over a year ago from Tallahassee, Florida, where he was also a football player. Pearl likes Donaldson’s toughness and competitiveness while he calls Holloway “a gamer”. They will bring Auburn the dynamics to matchup or be able to use their skills to create issues for other defenses.

“They both can really shoot it,” Pearl said. “They shoot it as well as any point guards I have had.”

Jones was an all-CUSA first team performer for FIU a season ago and he was the first Panther to be named first team all-CUSA as a sophomore.  He scored in double figures in 25 of FIU’s 27 games last season.

“To do that, he’s worked,” Pearl analyzed. “He’s been in the weight room. He’s been in the gym all the time. By the way, my best players are my hardest workers. That’s almost always the case.”