Nearly neighbors and teammates, Johni Broome, Walter Clayton Jr. share Final Four stage

Miami Herald

04-04-2025

Florida coach Todd Golden had just been hired and was armed with a vision to sell. Bruce Pearl had an established program at Auburn and could offer transfers a chance to play with future draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.
Advantage, Auburn, which landed Morehead State transfer Johni Broome before the 2022-23 season in a race closely contested by Golden and Florida.
On Saturday night, Broome takes the floor with the Tigers and Golden tries to show him what he's missing.
"We were excited at the opportunity to get him to be a Gator. Obviously because of his success (at Morehead State), was recruited by pretty much every big-time program around," Golden recalled Friday in San Antonio of his early pursuit of Broome. "We were fortunate enough to get in the mix, to get in the final two. I think we did a good job in a short period of time of kind of explaining our vision and kind of introducing him to our staff and kind of what we had going on.
"Bruce had been at Auburn, had been solidified as well. They do a great job as well. He decided to go be a Tiger. Obviously he's had a great career and been really impactful in terms of their success. Knock on wood for us. We've been able to do pretty well also. We'd have been happy to have him. I'm happy for him at Auburn and the success that he's had."
Broome is a central figure in the Final Four as an All-American who impacts the game on both ends of the court. He said the benefit of Morehead State was immense and forced him to grind to improve his lateral quickness, agility and produce numbers that would attract a big-name program or two.
"Certainly benefited from the experience at Morehead, no question," Pearl said Friday. "He's got a combination of an inner confidence and a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. I think the biggest thing is -- he's always been second-guessed. Whether it was out of high school, even in the OVC. Coming to Auburn he wasn't fast enough, quick enough, didn't jump high enough, the game wouldn't translate, his lack of athleticism ... they're wrong."
Transfers are vital for the Southeastern Conference rivals with Florida sporting three double-digit scorers who were Golden imports: Walter Clayton Jr. (Iona), Alijah Martin (Florida Atlantic) and Will Richard (Belmont).
Auburn has its own stash of additions from the transfer portal with Broome, Miles Kelly (Georgia Tech) and Denver Jones (Florida Atlantic) all in vital roles.
"I think valuing guys that have been overlooked, you bring them into a place like Auburn," Pearl said. "Here is the deal. I spoil my kids, but I will slap the rotten right out of them. I spoil my players, but I will slap the rotten right out of them. When you get a guy that is overlooked and you spoil him, he's more appreciative and grateful for the opportunity. He goes to work every single day trying to prove people wrong."
When Broome hits the floor for a second matchup this season with Florida -- the Gators beat Auburn in February -- he'll see a couple of other familiar faces.
One will be a portal win Golden did score, Clayton, who grew up 20 miles away from Broome and then started his college journey under Rick Pitino. He was the MAAC player of the year as a sophomore before Pitino took his current job at St. John's. Clayton said this week he "clicked right away" with Golden, who had the advantage of not being in the role two years earlier and overlooking him.
Both are averaging over 18 points per game in their final college seasons and have everything to do with why their teams are still alive. Golden jumped ahead of Pearl in pursuit of Clayton with an assist from the player's mother, who was eager for her son to play close to home rather than following Pitino to St. John's. So he took one final swing at bringing him to Gainesville.
"I guess one of the benefits of being Jewish is that we don't celebrate Easter," Golden said. "I got a plane that afternoon, flew up, met with Walt on Easter Sunday evening. Me and Coach Korey McCray. Had a great meal talking through everything with him. Before we left that night, he let us know he was going to come home. I think that extra effort, going up there and sitting with him, reconfirming our vision for him, what our program would be like was really important. Obviously, I'm really glad we got on that plane. It was really well worth it."
--Field Level Media
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