Auburn didn’t do much in the transfer portal but it did grab OVC defensive player of the year Johni Broome.

Broome – who averaged 16.8 points and 10.5 rebounds for the Eagles last season – excels down on the block offensively and is an elite rim protector.

How is he able to be effective in those areas and how will that translate at Auburn?

Here is a deeper look:

Roller:

Johni Broome is an excellent roller off of the pick-and-roll.

Most of his offense came from post-ups because that was Morehead’s most efficient offense, but he averaged 1.038 points per possession as a roller (per synergy) despite the fact that the ball handlers around him weren’t great.

That number should increase with Wendell Green and Zep Jasper as his primary creators.

Broome knows how to find open space when he rolls to the basket which gives ball handlers easy assists to him down low. He is also effective at sealing his defender off from the basket after rolling.

He also knows when to short roll and pop out to the three-point line off the screen and drive it himself.

After setting the screen Broome slowly rolls to the basket and uses his strength to wall off KJ Williams. This gives him the space he needs to easily convert down low while also drawing a foul.

Broome pops out to the three-point line instead of rolling because the paint would have been clogged had he rolled. This allowed the ball handler to easily find him while also allowing Broome to find an open driving lane.

Transition:

Broome was so good down low that Morehead ran a slow, methodical, half-court offense because their best offense was Broome posting up.

The transition game was only 13.3% of Morehead’s offense last season compared to Auburn’s – which was still a slow team last season – 19.1%.

When given the chance, Broome was elite in transition.

Broome averaged 1.571 points per possession in transition which ranked in the 98th percentile.

Broome is a willing rim runner and now that he’s with a team that doesn’t need to solely rely on half-court offense, he should get more looks in transition.

Here is an example of him running the floor after a block.

Mid-range game:

It’s not his strength, but Broome does have a mid-range game.

Broome has shown off a fade away at times when he’s posting up and while it’s not the most efficient shot, it does keep the defense guessing, especially when he’s hitting, which also makes posting up easier.

He has also shown that he can knock down mid-range shots off of the short roll when he’s left open. Teams will likely drop on him in the pick-and-roll, so hitting that mid-range will force the defense to play him honestly and make it easier for him to get open looks down low.

These shots are more of a luxury rather than a necessity for Broome. If he's hitting shots like this then there's really nothing the defense can do. When he hits those shots, the defense is forced to play him honestly instead of only expecting the post-up.

Defenses will likely be fine with Broome taking shots like this and will more often than not give them to him. If he can consistently make them pay for that then the offense will open up even more for both him and Auburn as a team.

Defensive IQ:

Broome averaged 3.9 blocks last season for a reason.

He is a smart help defender and knows when to rotate over to block/contest a shot at the perfect time so that he doesn’t leave his man open.

Broome is also a disciplined rim protector as he doesn’t fall for many fakes and was usually able to stay out of foul trouble averaging only 2.5 fouls per game.

This type of play was how Broome got the bulk of his blocks. He sticks with his man just long enough and then is able to rotate over and block the shot at the perfect time giving the driver no time to find the open man.

This sequence perfectly encapsulates Broome's defensive prowess.

Broome is a lot like Walker Kessler in the way that he's a disciplined defender. He isn't going to fall for many fakes and will stand his ground and either block the shot or heavily alter it.

The next shot is kind of the same as the play above. He's able to time his rotation perfectly and block the shot.

Trail defender:

The way Broome guards the perimeter is he trails the ball handler and attempts to alter the shot from behind.

This works for him a lot as his length is able to bother ball handlers shots and sometimes he’s able to block the shot.

Other times this strategy hurts him because he will be over-aggressive with the contest and draw multiple fouls quickly and have to sit out for a while. This happened in the first half of Morehead’s conference tournament game against Belmont.

This is an area where Broome can improve. Instead of going for the block, he could just contest or just let him finish because you'd rather give up two points than give up a foul. This is obviously easier said than done, especially for a player going full speed, but if he cleans that area up then that will allow him to be even more dominant.