AUBURN — Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl knew what he was getting when he convinced Morehead State transfer Johni Broome to sign with the Tigers over Florida in April 2022.

Well, sort of.

"Johni fits the profile," Pearl said in a statement the day Auburn landed Broome's commitment. "He is a great kid and comes from a great family. Extremely hard worker. He has a strong back to the basket game that we will take full advantage of. What's also exciting is that he has the ability to face up and guard all five positions on the floor."

Pearl was right. Broome has been as an effective scorer in the post, leading the SEC in paint points last season. He's proven to be a strong defender, too, often finding himself having to wall up against an opposing big man or switch on a screen and stick with a crafty guard looking to create space.

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But what Pearl couldn't have anticipated was Broome's rapid ascension on both ends of the floor, turning him into a force who warrants national attention. Broome has become a real threat from beyond the 3-point arc, making 35.4% of his attempted triples last season on 2.3 tries per game. He's complemented his offensive growth with defensive dominance, leading the SEC in defensive win shares (2.4), defensive rating (89.5) and total blocks (78) in the 2023-24 campaign.

If not for the brilliance of Tennessee's Dalton Knecht, Broome may have won SEC Player of the Year last season; Alabama's Mark Sears was the only other true contender. Still, Broome was named a consensus third-team All-American by the Associated Press, NABC, USBWA and Sporting News. He's the 14th player in the 118-year-old program's history to be named an All-American in some capacity.

To put it in a straight-forward manner: Broome has established himself in the pantheon of Auburn's greatest players with one season to go.

The Tigers have hung eight conference banners in program history, finishing atop the SEC standings on five occasions (1928, 1960, 1999, 2018 and 2022) and securing a tournament title thrice (1985, 2019 and 2024). Of the three Tigers with SEC Tournament MVPs − Chuck Person (1985), Jared Harper (2019) and Broome (2024) − Broome is the only one to win the award while averaging less than 25 minutes per tournament game.

In fact, Broome is the first SEC player to achieve that feat since at least 2003. It likely goes back even further, but complete stats for years prior to that are not available on the internet.

Broome's stats may not be as high as some of the program's most prolific scorers like Person, who leads with 2,311 career points, but his efficiency and overall impact last season was something Auburn had never seen. Broome posted the best box plus/minus in Tigers history at 14.2, according to Sports Reference. That's a stat that measures a player's total contributions, and it's given in a way that aligns per 100 possessions.

For clarity, that means Broome contributed 14.2 more points than an average player per 100 possessions. Walker Kessler holds the Tigers' second-best mark in this category for what he did in 2021-22 (14.1), and teammate Jabari Smith isn't far behind him at 11.1.

Broome also has the highest single-season player efficiency rating in program history (32.5). That's another stat that strives to measure a player's total impact.

Players such as Person and Harper must currently rank above Broome, as they match his hardware (Harper exceeds it with a Final Four appearance) and have better total numbers, even if they perhaps weren't as efficient.

Then there are the legends, like Charles Barkley and Mike Mitchell, two of the six players who have their numbers retired along with Person, Wesley Person, John Menglet and Rex Frederick.

Standouts like Bryce Brown, Marquis Daniels, Eddie Johnson, Chris Porter and Doc Robinson deserve a mention, too, as do the one-season wonders that were Kessler and Smith.

Broome likely ranks somewhere near the top 15 at this point. At his current pace, he's set to finish in the top 10 in points and rebounds while also being top three in blocks. If he can reach those benchmarks and couple that with a run in the NCAA Tournament − success in March Madness is about the only hole in Broome's legacy − then there's no reason why he can't break into the top 10 and push even further.

Something unique he could strive for that no other Auburn player has ever achieved: Being the alpha on two separate championship-wining teams, whether that means a regular-season title or another triumph in the conference tournament.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Johni Broome: Where Auburn basketball legacy could go after final season