Florida coach Todd Golden had just been hired and was armed with a vision to sell. Bruce Pearl had an established program at Auburn and could offer transfers a chance to play with future draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.Advantage, Auburn, which landed Morehead State transfer Johni Broome before the 2022-23 season in a race closely contested by Golden and Florida.On Saturday night, Broome takes the floor with the Tigers and Golden tries to show him what he’s missing.”We were excited at the opportunity to get him to be a Gator. Obviously because of his success (at Morehead State), was recruited by pretty much every big-time program around,” Golden recalled Friday in San Antonio of his early pursuit of Broome. “We were fortunate enough to get in the mix, to get in the final two. I think we did a good job in a short period of time of kind of explaining our vision and kind of introducing him to our staff and kind of what we had going on.”Bruce had been at Auburn, had been solidified as well. They do a great job as well. He decided to go be a Tiger. Obviously he’s had a great career and been really impactful in terms of their success. Knock on wood for us. We’ve been able to do pretty well also. We’d have been happy to have him. I’m happy for him at Auburn and the success that he’s had.”Broome is a central figure in the Final Four as an All-American who impacts the game on both ends of the court. He said the benefit of Morehead State was immense and forced him to grind to improve his lateral quickness, agility and produce numbers that would attract a big-name program or two.”Certainly benefited from the experience at Morehead, no question,” Pearl said Friday. “He’s got a combination of an inner confidence and a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. I think the biggest thing is — he’s always been second-guessed. Whether it was out of high school, even in the OVC. Coming to Auburn he wasn’t fast enough, quick enough, didn’t jump high enough, the game wouldn’t translate, his lack of athleticism … they’re wrong.”Transfers are vital for the Southeastern Conference rivals with Florida sporting three double-digit scorers who were Golden imports: Walter Clayton Jr. (Iona), Alijah Martin (Florida Atlantic) and Will Richard (Belmont).Auburn has its own stash of additions from the transfer portal with Broome, Miles Kelly (Georgia Tech) and Denver Jones (Florida Atlantic) all in vital roles.