Call Bo. Set up a Zoom. Get Mr. Jackson and fellow Auburn legends Charles Barkley and the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, on the line. Tell them it’s time to make room on the top shelf of elite players who’ve worn the orange and blue.
Make room for Johni Broome.
No matter what happens over the next seven days at the Final Four. No matter whether he collects two more double-doubles to lead this Auburn program to its first national championship with one arm and one leg.
His story isn’t quite finished, but his legacy is secure. He is the best player on the best team in Auburn basketball history. He is the National Player of the Year. He is the Auburn Creed in a living, breathing, limping, battling, 6-foot-10, 240-pound package of wreckage wrought by work, hard work.
In Sunday’s 70-64 Elite Eight victory over Michigan State, Broome did double duty as starter and closer. If his immediate individual brilliance weren’t enough, after throwing caution to the wind and his body through the air to alter a shot, after hitting the deck awkwardly on an extended right elbow and twisted left ankle, after retreating to the locker room and appearing to mouth the words “I’m done,” he wasn’t finished.
Except, when his parents rushed courtside and escorted him to the locker room, no one could know his status for sure.
The other Tigers, inspired by Minister of Culture Dylan Cardwell, fought through their unease. That was Tom Izzo on the opposite bench, who’d never lost an NCAA Tournament game to an SEC team in 10 prior matchups. Those were Spartans on the floor, the latest iteration of a program famous for its War Rebound drill that’s likely illegal in 49 states.
If there was a way to take advantage of Broome’s absence, tame and quiet the traveling Jungle and end Auburn’s dream season, the Big Ten champions and their Hall of Fame coach would find it in those final nine minutes.
Instead State and fate had to make room for Broome.
When he emerged from the tunnel still in uniform, you knew. He wasn’t going to be a spectator, a sideline inspiration, a presence to calm his brothers’ nerves. At that moment, it wouldn’t have mattered if Magic Johnson, Draymond Green and a roster full of Michigan State legends had turned up in their prime after traveling through time.
Broome was going to be what he’s been for much of this historic season. A wounded warrior. Taped up and ready to wrap up Auburn’s second trip to the Final Four.
First, he snatched a defensive rebound with his one good arm. Then, he swished a trey with his one good elbow. After short-circuiting State’s attempted uprising, after posting the last of his 25 points and 14 rebounds, he raised both arms toward the Auburn faithful in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena in acknowledgement and celebration.
He was the man, and they were his people.
He has been the man in the middle of the greatest season in Auburn history, with its school and state record for victories, its SEC regular-season championship and its eight straight weeks at No. 1 in the AP poll. He has mentored the baby-faced bucket-getter Tahaad Pettiford, who contributed a quiet but critical 10 points. He has steadied the mercurial Chad Baker-Mazara, who feathered two expert pick-and-roll bounce passes to Broome for a slithery layup and an emphatic dunk.
Broome has delivered more double-doubles than anyone in an Auburn uniform, which has been worn by the likes of all-time greats Barkley and Chuck Person. Sunday was his fifth double-double in an NCAA Tournament game, tying him for the SEC career record with LSU legend Shaquille O’Neal and Auburn 1980s stalwart Jeff Moore.
Shaq never reached the Final Four. Neither did Moore or Person, who got as far as the 1986 Elite Eight. Broome has done things and won things like no Auburn player before him, and his work here is not done.
The true health of his elbow and ankle will be a question all week, and the Tigers themselves will be doubted all the way to tipoff Saturday in San Antonio. They may be the No. 1 overall seed, but in this All-Chalk Final Four, the KenPom rankings put them at No. 4 of 4.
They’re the only team that’s played the other three national semifinalists. They got the better of Houston. Duke and Florida got them. Now comes their chance to settle the score with the skyscraper Gators.
It looks like a tall task especially when their best player, at the moment, walks with a limp and lets his off arm hang quietly by his side. Auburn will make room for Broome in the training room all week, but it won’t be a new experience.
He’s played through pain for the past two months, which makes his final college campaign even more inspiring and enduring. What he did Sunday was the stuff of Auburn legends, which is right where he belongs.
Bo, Barkley, the Big Hurt and Broome. Johni Broome. That’s an Auburn Final Four.
