As the SEC gears up for another season of college basketball, three hugely talented big men will be leaving the mid-major ranks to join the conference in K.J. Williams following coach Matt McMahon to LSU, Ole Miss picking up Theo Akwuba, and Johni Broome leaving Morehead State for Auburn.
With each towering above the 6-foot-10 mark, it would be easy to assume these three share similar profiles on the court but they arrive in the SEC with vastly different resumes and each bolstering a unique skill set. So which transfer between Williams (LSU), Akwuba (Ole Miss), and Broome (Auburn) would you want on your roster, and who will have the biggest impact within the conference?
After earning three separate NCAA tournament Bids with Murray State, Williams would accompany his head coach in a move to LSU alongside former Racers Justice Hill and Trae Hannibal. In his four seasons with Murray State, Williams was a 3-time All-OVC honoree with the 6-foot-10 forward’s career in Murray, KY culminating with a 2021-22 OVC Player of the Year award and a 2022 All-OVC Tournament selection as he averaged 18 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 1.4 STLPG.
Ole Miss will be Akwuba’s third career transfer having spent two seasons each at both Portland and Louisiana as a dominant 6-foot-11 center with the Alabama native having his best season in 2020-21 averaging 11.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG, and 1 APG. Here, Akwuba would lead the Sun Belt Conference in blocked shots managing 2.6 PG while winning the 2020-21 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year award and an All-Sun Belt Second Team selection.
Akwuba would see a slight drop in production last season averaging just 9.1 PPG and 7.9 RPG but was still a defensive force averaging 2 BKPG which was tied for second-best in the Sun Belt showing he should be a leader on an Ole Miss team that is going to be very defensively strong.
Broome joins Auburn following two seasons with Morehead State in which the 6-foot-10 forward would help carry his team to a 2021 NCAA Tournament appearance before just falling short on the repeat opportunity in 2022. Along the way, Broome would earn the 2020-21 OVC Rookie of the Year, 2021 OVC Tournament MVP, two All-OVC First Team selections, and finally finish with the 2021-22 OVC Defensive Player of the Year award averaging 16.8 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.2 APG, and a conference-leading 3.9 BKPG in just his sophomore season.
With these three offering loads of potential to each respective program they’ll be joining, which between Williams, Akwuba, and Broome will have the biggest impact in the SEC and will play a major role for their squad next season?
