Johni Broome is a different player than when he first arrived on the Plains.
When he came to Auburn after two seasons at Morehead State, Broome had zero career three-point makes. Flash forward to 2024 and now he has to be respected from beyond the arc.
Additionally, when Broome first stepped foot on the Plains, he was solely a rim protector. Three seasons later, Broome has become one of Auburn's better perimeter defenders in addition to being an already great shot blocker.
Both were massive areas of growth for him, but neither matches his leap as a passer.
As great of a prospect that Broome was out of the transfer portal, quite possibly his biggest flaw was that he was a black hole on offense.
In his final season at Morehead State, Broome had a usage rate of 31.6 percent, but an assist rate of 11.5 percent and a turnover rate of 16 percent.
Flash forward to this season and Broome's assist rate has nearly doubled to 22.7 percent, which ranks in the 97th percentile nationally, and his turnover rate is at 10.1, the lowest mark of his career.
Let's take a look at how he is having the most efficient passing season of his career:
INVITE THE DOUBLE
When Auburn played Richmond, the Spiders' plan was simple: make someone other than Broome beat us.
The odds of Auburn having a cold day from deep were much higher than Richmond's chances to stop Broome one-on-one, so Richmond doubled with the weakside defender all game.
Instead of trying to beat the double, Broome asked for the ball and invited it just to get shooters such as Denver Jones and Miles Kelly open looks.
"Johni, (said) — 'Give me the ball so I can throw it to a teammate," Bruce Pearl said post-Richmond. "Just give me the ball so I can throw it to a teammate.' That was really pretty basketball."
There are three red jerseys in the paint, and Broome sees the defender coming over, so how does he play it?
Broome calmly waits until the defender is near his face, and as soon as he sees three guys watching him, he swings it to the corner for a wide-open Jones three.
Notice how composed the pass was and how he invited the double instead of dribbling into it. That wasn't always how he played that.
This is a game from Dec. 2021.
Xavier is daring him to drive into the double. Why? His passing wasn't a threat.
Notice as soon as he sees the double, he gets happy feet trying to spin away from it and eventually throws the ball into the third row.
Notice where he's looking, as well. For the most part, his eyes are locked in on the basket until he absolutely has to pass. Remember that.
He also really didn't have a plan on this play. Okay, let's flash forward three years.
Again, multiple bodies are in the paint waiting for him, but instead of spinning into the help and trying everything to score, he calmly waits for the help to come as far as it will before rifling a pass to Kelly in the corner.
"It's super beneficial," Kelly said about playing with Broome. "We work on knocking down open shots in practice. Having an All-American big like that, he's going to command a lot of attention, so us guards, we've got to just knock down shots. And that's part of the reason why I came here to play with better players and get cleaner looks, so that's really good."
Notice the difference here.
Broome starts by spinning into no man's land and has to pick up his dribble.
Instead of reading the floor, Broome goes to his first read, the weakside corner, but Cason Wallace is there playing free safety.
If he keeps his head up and doesn't rush, he'd find Zep Jasper open at the top.
And this is what happens when he keeps his head up.
Notice the matchup Broome has here -- a guard.
That's BBQ Chicken one-on-one, but Broome knows that Richmond isn't going to play him straight up, so instead of posting up to score, he's waiting for the double to make the right play.
Notice his eyes. Broome is surveying the court the whole time waiting for help to commit to him, and as soon as it does, the lob is wide open.
Again, this is something Broome has steadily improved throughout his career.
Let's go back in time again.
Mississippi State wants to double here, so what does Broome do? Instead of inviting it, he dribbles baseline and picks up his dribble leaving himself trapped leading to a turnover.
Notice where he positions himself here. Instead of pinning himself on the baseline, he is standing in the mid-post area which gives him room to operate either as a scorer or passer.
Memphis brings the double so he takes an escape dribble to give himself a bit of time to read the floor, and if there's a double it means someone is open, and since the weakside defender tagged Jones, it left a cutting Kelly open for a layup.
Again, notice how composed he is compared to the previous clip where he was running from the double with no plan.
Broome's right hand used to be weak.
Here, he drives with his right with a bit of tunnel vision, and it leads to the corner defender being able to easily rip the ball from him.
Broome never uses his right hand here, but notice how Jalen Washington closes out.
Because of how good Broome has gotten with his non-dominant hand, Washington can't shade him and actually closes to Broome's right. This gives Broome more freedom and space as a passer.
Notice the steal attempt from Elliott Cadeau as well. That's a turnover for Broome in the past, but not now.
"The ability to do that makes you just a tough scout and tougher to cover," Pearl said about Broome using his right hand. "Basically, you've gotta take what the defense gives you. Johni does a really nice job, offensively, of feeling the defense and sealing the defense and taking what the defense gives him."
Something Broome has really improved has been his patience.
In the first clip, instead of waiting for the play to develop and inviting the double, Broome panics and zips it to K.D. Johnson almost immediately. He's open, yes, but if he lets the double come to him, Johnson either remains open or someone else gets open and he doesn't have to rush a pass over outstretched arms.
In the second clip, he waits for the double, let's Chaney Johnson cut to develop the play, steps through and finds a wide-open Jones.
If that's not development then I don't know what is.
And if none of the above convinced you, here are two plays from right under the basket, one play from 2021 and the other from this year.
I think these clips speak for itself.
In three years at Auburn, Broome has gone from a pretty good player to the best player in the country, and while his development as a shooter and defender has been key to that, his passing development has opened up his game more than either of those could have.
Broome's assist-to-turnover ratio in his final season at Morehead State was 1.2-to-2.4. This season, it is 3.6-to-1.6. He has flipped the ratio around.
