Auburn Climbs To No. 1 In AP Poll But Awaits Return Of Johni Broome

Auburn’s hiring of Bruce Pearl in 2014 provided the veteran men’s basketball coach with a chance to resurrect his career. Three years earlier, Tennessee had fired Pearl for lying to the NCAA about his recruitment of a player. The NCAA also penalized Pearl with a three-year show cause penalty, essentially making it impossible for him to coach during that time period.

To say Pearl has taken advantage of the opportunity Auburn afforded him is a massive understatement. He’s exceeded the school’s wildest expectations, enriched himself and put the Tigers in the national conversation on an annual basis.

On Monday, Auburn moved up to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, only the second time in school history the Tigers have been ranked first. The other time occurred in January 2022 when Auburn was No. 1 for three consecutive weeks. Pearl is the only Southeastern Conference men’s basketball or football coach to lead two teams to a No. 1 national ranking. He also led Tennessee to the top of the AP poll in 2008.

Despite the good news on Monday, the Tigers (15-1) face a potentially difficult situation, as star forward Johni Broome sustained an ankle sprain in Saturday’s 66-63 victory over South Carolina. CBS Sports reported that Broome will miss at least the next two games, while Pearl told reporters the injury was “significant” and “serious,” but that was before Broome underwent an MRI.

Broome is averaging 17.9 points, 10.7 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 blocks per game and shooting 54.7% from the field. He is a frontrunner for national player of the year alongside Duke freshman forward Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft. Flagg is averaging 19.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks per game and making 47.9% of his shots.

Broome and Flagg faced each other on Dec. 4 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke won, 84-78, with both players putting up solid numbers but not shooting as high a percentage as normal: Broome had 20 points and 12 rebounds but made just 8 of 18 shots, while Flagg had 22 points and 11 rebounds but connected on only 7 of 18 field goals.

Since that loss, the only one of the season, Auburn has won eight consecutive games. The Tigers are first in Ken Pomeroy’s net rating and have an adjusted offensive efficiency of 130.6, which if they keep it up all season would be the best since the KenPom ratings began in the 2001-2002 season. The only teams that ended the year with offensive ratings above 125 are Missouri in 2011-12 (125.1), Wisconsin in 2014-15 (129.0), Oklahoma State in 2016-17 (126.0), Villanova in 2017-18 (127.8), Gonzaga in 2020-21 (126.4) and Connecticut last season (127.5).

Villanova and UConn won the national title during those seasons, while Wisconsin and Gonzaga lost in the title game. Meanwhile, Missouri and Oklahoma State lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament those seasons, but both teams had porous defenses that ranked 111th and 155th, respectively, according to KenPom.

While Auburn’s offense has been humming, its defense is ranked 17th in KenPom’s rating, showing the Tigers are a well-rounded team. They need to keep it up, as they are not only dealing with Broome’s injury but facing a loaded Southeastern Conference schedule.

Auburn returns to action on Tuesday night when it hosts No. 15 Mississippi State. The Tigers then play at No. 23 Georgia on Saturday and have a week off before a Jan. 25 home matchup against No. 6 Tennessee, which was ranked first in the AP poll for five consecutive weeks before losing at No. 5 Florida last Tuesday.

After that, Auburn has eight more games against top 25 teams, facing No. 4 Alabama and No. 21 Ole Miss twice apiece and playing No. 5 Florida, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 23 Georgia for the second time. All in all, it is a challenging schedule but one that should prepare Auburn for the NCAA tournament.

During Pearl’s first three seasons, Auburn missed the NCAAs and went 15-20, 11-20 and 18-14. But since the 2017-18 season, the Tigers have made the NCAAs five times, with the only exceptions occurring in 2020 when the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 and a year later when Auburn finished 13-14.

Still, Auburn has only advanced past the second round once since Pearl’s arrival, when it made the school’s first Final Four in 2019. With a healthy Broome, this is arguably Auburn’s best team in Pearl’s 11 seasons and should be considered a national title contender. That’s why it seems all but certain the Tigers will be cautious with Broome. They don’t want to rush him back before he’s close to or at 100%.

Pearl can afford to be patient, as he’s earned the benefit from a career resurrection following the Tennessee firing. After Auburn defeated Texas last week, Pearl became the winningest coach in school history. His overall record with the Tigers is 229-120, a 65.5% winning percentage, including 91-28 (a 76.5% winning percentage) in the past four seasons. And Pearl was the fourth-highest paid coach in men’s college basketball last season with a salary of more than $5.7 million, according to USA Today. His contract runs through the 2030 season.

Through the years, Pearl has been linked to other high-profile jobs, but he’s stuck with Auburn, a program he’s helped evolve from a mediocre team with middling fan support to sell-out crowds on a regular basis at the on-campus Neville Arena. Auburn’s No. 1 ranking indicates how well the Tigers have performed this season, but they no doubt are pointing to March when they seek to advance deep in the NCAA tournament.