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Miami Herald
04-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Nearly neighbors and teammates, Johni Broome, Walter Clayton Jr. share Final Four stage
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 Field Level Media 2023 - All Rights Reserved
Reuters
04-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Nearly neighbors and teammates, Johni Broome, Walter Clayton Jr. share Final Four stage
April 4 - 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."
New York Times
02-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Thanks to the transfer portal, this March's Cinderella stories are players, not teams
To find Cinderella stories at this men's Final Four, you have to look at the name on the back of the jersey rather than the front. For the second time in the history of the NCAA Tournament's modern-day bracketing practices, all four top seeds advanced to the national semifinals. It will be No. 1 Florida vs. No. 1 Auburn and No. 1 Houston vs. No. 1 Duke on Saturday in the national semifinals, a perfect ending to a most chalky March Madness. Only one double-digit seed reached the Sweet 16, and all of the teams in the regional semifinals were from Power 4 conferences. Advertisement Where have you gone, Loyola Chicago and Sister Jean? Check the transfer portal. Two of the very best players competing for a championship this weekend in San Antonio — Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. and Auburn's Johni Broome — might not be where they are today if not for this new world order of college sports, with unlimited, unrestricted transfers and name, image and likeness compensation. Clayton is the former high school football star from Florida whose passion for basketball led him to New Rochelle, N.Y., a hidden gem uncovered by Rick Pitino during his time at Iona. You probably didn't even notice Clayton scoring 15 points for the Gaels against eventual national champion UConn in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Now, he's being compared to Steph Curry. 'He's obviously a blessing to have in our program, have on our team,' Florida coach Todd Golden said. 'He's an incredible player, but outside of that, he's a great leader. He's been everything we could have asked him to be for this program since he got to campus two years ago.' Broome, another Floridian, was the 471st-rated prospect in his recruiting class per 247Sports Composite rankings, not even good enough to get an offer from Florida Atlantic. To be fair, former FAU coach Dusty May put together a team good enough to reach a Final Four two years ago without Broome, so not being good enough for those Owls is no slight. Instead, Broome landed at Morehead State and blossomed in two seasons in the Ohio Valley Conference before becoming the best player in the SEC in his third year at Auburn. 'Shoutout to Morehead State,' he said. 'I think those two years of my college career have helped me become who I am.' We're not quite ready to declare the NCAA Tournament underdog dead. The trends are working against the mid-majors — specifically, relaxed transfer rules that turn every player in the country into a free agent every year. Advertisement For years, draconian transfer rules gave way too much power to schools and coaches. Not only did undergraduate basketball players have to sit out a season after transferring — a non-compete clause for non-employees — but schools could block athletes from going to certain schools, just because. It was borderline shameful. Even Mark Emmert, the former NCAA president who was not exactly known for getting out in front of potential problems, knew change was needed. 'How complicated could this be?' Emmert said at the last Final Four in San Antonio in 2018. 'It's about students changing schools. And yet I've never seen anything that's quite as intractable a problem as this one because you just can't get agreement.' Even back then, before the portal was a viable option for every player from superstar to walk-on, transfers were on the rise in college basketball, with instances increasing from 10 percent of Division I players in 2010 to about 13 percent in 2016. The Villanova team that won the NCAA Tournament in 2018 started forward Eric Paschall, a transfer from Fordham. Surely, Rams fans were wondering what could have been as they watched Paschall scored 24 points in the semifinal victory against Kansas. Villanova, Kansas, Michigan and Sister Jean's Loyola Chicago all started at least one transfer in the Final Four that season. There were a total of nine on those rosters, including players who were sitting out to comply with the NCAA rules of the time. The Wolverines reached the title game with the help of Division III transfer Duncan Robinson. According to the NCAA's most recent reported figures, over 1,200 Division I men's basketball players transferred after the 2022-23 season. Typically, there are about 4,200 scholarship athletes playing Division I men's basketball. This year's Final Four teams have 20 scholarship transfers from other NCAA schools on their rosters, led by Auburn with seven. Florida has six, Duke has five and Houston has two, both from other Big 12 programs. Cougars star L.J. Cryer is in the Final Four for the second time after being part of Baylor's 2021 title team as a freshman. Advertisement Florida, Auburn and Duke all have at least one starter who once played at a mid-major. For Duke, that's guard Sion James, a former three-star recruit from Sugar Hill, Ga. He played four seasons at Tulane before taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility all athletes received in the wake of the pandemic to become a glue guy for one of the most storied and prestigious programs in the country. 'I'd played a lot of college basketball games, but none in the tournament, and I knew that we'd have a chance to win a national championship,' James said. 'And it's cool being here, however many months later, just a few games away.' The pendulum has swung hard toward player empowerment when it comes to transfer rules. It's fair to say we might be in the too-much-ice-cream phase. Bouncing around the country and averaging about a school per season is probably not ideal for players with minimal pro prospects who would benefit from graduating from … somewhere. Purdue coach Matt Painter made an interesting point earlier in the tournament about balancing the opportunity to get a degree with recognizing that for some players, college will be the last chance they have to make money playing basketball. 'I don't think that's a bad (thing) … like, why not?' he said. Painter's 2024-25 team, it should be noted, had no transfers, but former Boilermaker Mason Gillis is back in the Final Four with Duke. Will Wade, who took the NC State head coaching job after leading 12th-seeded McNeese past Clemson in one of the few true upsets of this tournament, talked about selling his mid-major program as a place for players to develop into power-conference transfers. More and more mid-majors are recruiting that way, resigned to the fact that, yes, they are indeed farm teams for the big schools. Maybe with a revenue sharing system coming to college sports, along with player contracts and something that replicates a salary cap for monied schools that opt into the system, the low-mid-major poaching will slow down. Probably not. Advertisement That's not great news for the future of Cinderella in March Madness, but just last year Oakland, Yale, Grand Canyon, James Madison and Duquesne won first-round games as double-digit seeds. Then again, Morehead State made the tournament last year, two seasons after Broome left, and lost in the first round as a 14-seed to Illinois. Imagine what that team could have been with Broome. We're also only two years removed from FAU's Final Four run. One of those players, Alijah Martin, is back in the Final Four with Florida. Others, from Michigan's Vladislav Goldin to Arkansas' Johnell Davis, came a win or two away from returns of their own. Then there is Chaney Johnson, who played three seasons of Division II basketball at Alabama Huntsville before becoming a key reserve for Auburn. Fans might lament the transient nature of college basketball, with mercenary players quickly coming and going, but this is Clayton's second season at Florida. Broome has been at Auburn for three years, and it's probably not a coincidence the Tigers only added three transfers this past offseason to a rotation with lots of multi-year veterans. Thanks to NIL, Auburn fans have watched Broome and this core of players develop to be able to cut down the nets on the way to a Final Four. 'Man, words can't even describe it,' Broome said after the regional final victory against Michigan State in Atlanta. 'To stand on top of the ladder in front of all the Auburn fans still being there, traveling and witnessing it as well, and looking down and seeing my teammates, the whole Auburn family, it just means the world to me. To kind of be able to deliver for the Auburn family.' And they all lived happily ever after. (Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Photos: Andy Lyons, Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Local cheerleader commits to prestigious cheerleading program
VERMILLION COUNTY, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A South Vermillion High School cheerleader is taking her cheerleading skills to the next level as she recently committed to one of the most prestigious cheerleading schools in the country. Ava Nelson, a senior at South Vermillion recently signed to cheer at Morehead State University in Kentucky. Her love for cheerleading beginning at a young age. 'Ava was the little girl who wanted to do cheerleading, like her friends,' said Ava's mother, Karen Nelson. 'She couldn't do a cartwheel. And all of a sudden when she saw these girls doing all these cool tricks, she wanted to be that girl.' Growing up, Ava cheered at a local all-star gym called 'U Cheer,' or Terre Haute Cheer University. She competed all over the country, including at the all-star cheerleading championship in Orlando, 'The Summit.' With that, there were many sacrifices to be made including Ava stepping away from all-star cheer due needing rest from past injuries. Today, Ava is ready now more than ever to compete and cheer at the collegiate level. 'I just love how Morehead is so spot on,' said Ava Nelson. 'They all work hard, and they all want the same things. So, it's not somebody working harder than others, because everybody inclusively wants genuinely the same thing.' The same thing… being a national championship. Morehead State University is one of the most prestigious cheerleading programs in the nation, with over 50 national cheerleading championships. The South Vermillion senior will be joining the best of the best program. 'Morehead State is a very prestigious cheer program and (Ava) is going there but, she belongs there,' said South Vermillion Cheer Head Coach, Olivia Mitchell. 'She's going to be with all these other people that have the same passion as her for cheerleading. And I really hope it grows her love for cheerleading even more.' At Morehead State, collegiate cheer is not an open tryout, rather it is a competitive recruitment process for all athletes. It's a team effort, for not only the athletes, but for the families. 'You can't just walk out on the floor and say, 'Hey I'm here to tryout,' said Ava's mother, Karen. 'You know I think I started the recruitment process for Ava 10 years too late. I didn't realize how the recruitment process really goes. (She) has to attend camps, you have to attend their clinics, in hopes of receiving a bid to be able to tryout.' Between attending camps and clinics, being a full-time student, and a cheerleader, Ava also is a record holder for the dive team at South Vermillion. Plus, she was named Bobcat of Daviess County Athlete of the Week back in January. Nelson credits much of her success to her support system. 'My mom gives me everything she can for me to be able to do these things. I know it's not always easy for her, but she does it because she loves it. I try my best to give her the best in return,' said Ava. Looking ahead, Ava plans to study elementary education at Morehead State in hopes of one day becoming a teacher. Outside of cheer, Ava plans to enjoy all things college has to offer. 'I'm excited to decorate my dorm of course,' said Ava laughing. 'I'm excited for these new friendships, and my new teammates. I'm excited to be able to text my friends and ask if they want to go practice stunts,' said Ava Nelson. The next four years, the future South Vermillion graduate will have the opportunity to grow and learn from a nationally renowned cheer team. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox Sports
06-03-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Bass puts up 23 as Lindenwood downs Morehead State 73-65 in Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
Associated Press EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Reggie Bass had 23 points and No. 6 seed Lindenwood beat No. 7 seed Morehead State 73-65 on Wednesday night in a first-round game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Lindenwood (16-16) will move on to face No. 3 seed Tennessee State in a Thursday quarterfinal. Bass added four steals for the Lions. Anias Futrell scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Markeith Browning II added 14 points. Kenny White Jr. led the way for the Eagles (15-17) with 12 points and seven rebounds. Tyler Brelsford added 10 points for Morehead State. Steven Clay had nine points. The loss is the ninth straight for the Eagles. Browning scored eight points in the first half and Lindenwood went into the break trailing 30-21. Bass' 16-point second half helped Lindenwood close out the eight-point victory. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. recommended
