No. 1 seed Auburn has a roster filled with ‘underdog kids’ looking for a turnaround in NCAA play

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By Justin Ferguson

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Johni Broome had no power conference offers in high school. Chad Baker-Mazara played for two mid-majors before transferring to junior college. Denver Jones also attended junior college before two years in Conference USA.

Miles Kelly spent three losing seasons at Georgia Tech. Chaney Johnson played three years for a Division II school.

Auburn has an unusual roster makeup for an overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the Southeastern Conference’s regular-season champion — even in the topsy-turvy, transfer-friendly world of college sports.

“Think about this: There wasn’t that much expected from Auburn at the start of the season,” coach Bruce Pearl said. “Good team, older team, probably won’t win the league but be a tournament team. All of a sudden, this team is No. 1 in the country for six or seven weeks. Now a bunch of underdog kids from mid-majors, different levels have to live up to what that expectation is.”

The Tigers (28-5) have set the bar high in Pearl’s 11th season on the Plains, even though they stumbled into the NCAA Tournament. Auburn lost three of its last four games, all against ranked teams, but has everything in place to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Auburn’s journey begins against Alabama State or St. Francis (Pa.) on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky.

The Tigers will rely on their unique collection of talent to try to get to the Final Four for the first time since 2019.

It starts with dominant big man Broome, the SEC player of the year who spent his first two seasons at Morehead State. Long before anyone else, Broome believed he could reach the pinnacle of the sport.

“I definitely knew I could win national player of the year by the work I’ve put in,” said Broome, a senior who is averaging 18.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists. “That was one of my goals coming into college.”

Broome joined Auburn before the 2022-23 season, with the Tigers fresh off an SEC title campaign with former five-star recruits and eventual NBA first-round draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.

Baker-Mazara joined him at Auburn a year later. Baker-Mazara is a fiery wing who spent time at Duquesne, San Diego State and Northwest Florida State College.

The Tigers also added Jones, a combo guard who was a top scorer at Florida International but soon evolved into a two-way leader in the SEC. There also was Johnson, a hard-working forward Auburn picked up from Alabama-Huntsville.

“This team just has so many guys that are unselfish,” Johnson said. “It’s just who we are.”

While Auburn added a pair of blue-chip recruits in Tahaad Pettiford and Jahki Howard this past offseason — and returned a pair of fifth-year seniors in Dylan Cardwell and Chris Moore — perhaps the biggest roster upgrade came in the form of Kelly.

Kelly carried Georgia Tech’s offense for three tough seasons. Then he joined Auburn, where he’s been allowed to play off the attention that Broome and the rest of the returners create.

“That’s why I came here: to play with better players and get cleaner looks,” said Kelly, who shot 40% from 3-point range in SEC play.

In a season of college basketball defined by ultra-experienced rosters, Pearl and his staff went all-in on that strategy.

So far, it’s paid off with a hard-fought conference title. Now, the Tigers have all the hype of a top seed and will begin NCAA play with a huge target on their backs — even amid a late-season lull.

“Nobody picked us to win,” Pearl said. “Look at the preseason. If Duke is 1 and Houston is 2 (now), were they not 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 in everybody’s poll? They were. Auburn wasn’t. We didn’t deserve to be. We are now, though.”