Auburn star haunted by Tigers’ Round of 32 March Madness elimination
Auburn basketball star Johni Broome still sounds haunted by the Tigers’ elimination from the 2023 March Madness tournament at the hands of Houston in the Round of 32, 81-64, at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham — painting such a picture to Auburnundercover’s Jason Caldwell in an interview published on July 26.
“The main thing is just winning,” Broome prefaced before saying, “We’re wanting to get farther than we did last year. That’s one of the biggest forces for us. We felt like we should have gone way farther than we did, and we had that opportunity too. We were one half away from being in the Sweet 16. Everybody knows we lost focus and let the game slip. This year we’ve got to come with a better approach.”
AU blew a 10-point first-half lead against the Cougars on March 18 before being outscored by 27 points in the second half. In a March Madness tournament that saw Florida Atlantic make the Final Four and No. 15 Princeton make the Sweet 16, the Tigers missed their chance to be a part of the underdog chaos as well as a chance at revenge against Miami; who promptly knocked off Houston on March 24.
Johni Broome high on 2023-24 Auburn basketball roster
Broome spoke highly of the 2023-24 Auburn basketball roster, telling Caldwell that the group heading into his second season on the Plains is “great.”
“It has been great,” Broome said. “We’ve got a great group of guys. We have a great mix of veterans and new guys coming in. We have a lot of talent and guys that are working hard. It’s going to be an exciting year to see what we do.”
Broome’s opinion is in line with that of Florida International transfer guard Denver Jones, who similarly gushed over his teammates.
“It has been a blessing,” Jones told 247Sports. “When I first got here, me and the guys were just stressing about being in the gym and building our chemistry together. It has been a great honor being around the returning guys and the transfers. I feel like by the time the season gets here our chemistry will be top-tier. The transition has been great. I’m just coming to practice and working hard every day, in the weight room and on the court.”
Several months ahead of AU’s 2023 tipoff, Tigers old and new alike are bullish on Bruce Pearl’s squad. It’s hard for that to be viewed as anything but a complete positive.