Johni Broome's return to the floor for Auburn basketball had a tangible impact during the Tigers' thrilling win over Tennessee Saturday night. Broome carried the offense coming off the bench and finished with a team-high 16 points in the 53-51 defensive battle.
And yet, Broome is still being treated as an outside threat to the Wooden Award.
Cooper Flagg, Duke's built-for-ESPN wunderkind, was billed by CBS Sports' Gary Parrish as the player Broome is chasing for the award.
"Auburn's National Player of the Year candidate took the court for the first time since suffering an ankle injury at South Carolina on Jan. 11 when he entered Saturday's game early in the first half. The 6-foot-10 senior finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in 33 minutes while reestablishing himself as the favorite to take SEC Player of the Year honors and the biggest threat to Cooper Flagg's pursuit at Duke to become the youngest Wooden Award winner in history," Parrish wrote.
Broome's impact is undeniable. Bruce Pearl himself called Broome the team's leader and questioned if AU would've won against the Vols without their six-foot-10 leader.
"I just want to thank my trainers and my doctors and Johni Broome for living in the training room for two weeks," said Pearl. "I didn't think he was gonna come back tonight, in the middle of the week. And, even here the day before, I knew he wanted to go. I didn't think he was gonna be effective. And he had a triple-double tonight: 16 points, 13 rebounds, and he missed 12 shots. But I think the team really respected their leader for putting it on the line. And I don't know if we win if he doesn't come back."
Of course, Flagg is essentially the entire Blue Devils offense. Without him, Duke is nowhere near the No. 1 seed. Without Broome, Pearl had the Tigers winning.
That is the crux of the Wooden Award debate: Broome is the best player on the best team, but Flagg is the reason Duke is at the top of the rankings.
These situations never favor Auburn. Prepare accordingly for a Flagg Wooden Award win.