How NC State's Dereon Seabron rose from subtle Virginia high schooler to 'next level' ACC basketball star

RALEIGH – Kenneth Brown met the best story in Triangle basketball seven years ago in the guidance counselor’s office at Lake Taylor High School. His initial impressions of a young Dereon Seabron?

Lanky and nonchalant. Very nonchalant.

“I had to fight my way through introducing myself,” Brown said with a laugh.

Brown was the longtime boys’ basketball coach at the school in Norfolk, Virginia, Seabron was a sophomore transfer from nearby Portsmouth and getting an early read on his raw talents was like pulling teeth.

“Man, I heard you’re supposed to be real good.”

“I think that’s what they say.”

More willing to discuss his go-to Wendy’s 4 for $4 order than his basketball skills, Seabron flew under the radar for a few days until Brown, his new coach, started reading the proclamations of local sportswriters: “With the addition of Dereon Seabron, Lake Taylor has a chance at multiple state championships …” Then he watched the guard play in person, and Seabron’s cover was blown.

“Man, you are good!”

“Yeah, coach. If that’s what you want to call it.”

Grinning through the phone, Brown cites that conversation from 2015 because it informs so much of what Seabron has become in 2021 and 2022: not just the undisputed breakout star of the N.C. State men’s basketball team, but one of the top statistical producers across the Atlantic Coast Conference.

This season, Seabron is averaging 19.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 53.1% from the field. He had started all 19 contests for N.C. State (9-10, 2-6 ACC), playing 36.9 of a possible 40 minutes on average, and recorded eight games of 20-plus points and two of 30-plus.

He is the ACC’s third leading scorer through Wednesday’s games, just trailing Wake Forest’s Alondes Williams (20.3) and Georgia Tech’s Michael Devoe (19.4).

Despite his slight 6-foot-7, 180-pound frame he’s also the ACC’s No. 1 offensive rebounder, grabbing 3.3 per game, while his 9.5 rebounds per game and 10 double-doubles are second only to UNC’s Armando Bacot (11.3 per game, 13 double-doubles).

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A serious contender for first-team All-ACC and Most Improved Players honors, Seabron is also picking up steam for his next chapter. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski dubbed him “a pro” after coaching against him last Saturday, and this week Bleacher Report listed him as the No. 38 overall prospect in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Though there’s room for improvement in Seabron’s outside shooting (23.3% on 3-pointers, which aren't a huge part of his game, and 69.7% on free throws), his rise has been meteoric enough to prompt the occasional crystal ball joke.

“I knew that he was going to average 20 points and 10 rebounds this year – I saw it coming,” N.C. State’s Kevin Keatts said, smirking before an honest pivot: “He’s playing really, really great basketball for us.”

'Next level'

That’s not to say there weren’t signs along the way, breadcrumbs hinting at Seabron’s ability to get to the line and pound the glass and convert twisting layups with the best of them. Keatts often points to the final eight games of Seabron’s redshirt freshman year when, starting in relief of injured guard Devon Daniels, he averaged 8.4 points and played valiantly in wins at Notre Dame and Wake Forest.

Brown, the former Lake Taylor coach, can date it back even further.

Before Seabron was thriving as N.C. State’s lead ball handler this season, he was the sophomore who, when faced with a zone defense late in the fourth quarter of the 2016 state semifinals, waved off Brown’s plea for a timeout and casually sliced through the opponents for two game-icing layups.

“That’s when I saw the eye of the tiger,” Brown said.

Before Seabron was gliding from one end of PNC Arena’s floor to the other, he was the unranked recruit who glanced at the top-ranked Virginia private school across from him, whispered “This is what I’ve been waiting for” to a teammate and promptly weaved through all five of his pressing opponents for a coast-to-coast dunk that caused a brief midgame court storm at Norfolk’s Scope Arena.

“We knew the light was on for making some money down the road,” Brown said.

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And before Seabron was putting up video game numbers against Power Five opponents – think his 39 points and 19 rebounds against Nebraska, or his 32 points on 12-14 shooting against Florida State – he was the steady senior leading Lake Taylor to its first ever state championship in double overtime in 2018.

“The most excitement I’ve ever seen from him,” Brown said.

What followed was an impressive test of patience. Brown and Derek “Yogi” Edwards, a former Lake Taylor assistant who’s since succeeded Brown as head coach, collaborated with Seabron on a long-term plan for success that started with a post-graduate year at Virginia’s Massanutten Military Academy.

There, Seabron refined his point guard skills, led Massanutten to a national prep semifinal and improved both his academic standing and his college options before committing to N.C. State and Keatts, a one-time Hargrave Military Academy coach, as a three-star and the nation’s No. 129 overall recruit in 2019.

His first two years of college basketball required perseverance, too, as Seabron sat out the 2019-20 season in full as an academic redshirt (he was allowed to practice) and, understandably, backed up standout guard Daniels for most his redshirt freshman season until an injury forced a lineup swap.

“Dereon never complained,” Brown said. “Now, it’s almost like a coming-out party.”

Added Edwards, who outside of coaching has served as a mentor to the 21-year-old Seabron since he was 7 or 8 years old: “I’ve seen him do it in middle school. I’ve seen him do it in high school. I’ve seen him go to prep school and do it. And now he’s doing it in college. He waited his turn, and now he’s in it.”

And his former coaches are loving it.

'Same mindset'

Brown is a longtime Florida State basketball fan, but his experience in PNC Arena on Jan. 1 – he found himself cheering more for Seabron’s 32 points than he did FSU’s 83-81 win over N.C. State – converted him into a part-time Wolfpack fan, too, as long as the player he lovingly refers to as “DB” is still there.

Edwards texts with him daily, Brown texts with him weekly and his booming introduction from N.C. State’s PA announcer has yet to get old.

“Starting at guard … at 6-foot-7 … from Norfolk, Virginia …”

It induces some chills for Brown and Edwards and some laughter, too, because despite the weekly awards and draft projections and media attention, Seabron, to them, is still just DB: the humble kid from the 757 area code who takes his Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits with multiple strawberry jelly packets and had to be assured early in his prep career: “Yes, it’s OK for you take this game over.”

Those traits have carried over to Raleigh. A scroll through Seabron’s Twitter reveals not just Wolfpack basketball content but a steady stream of Mississippi State and Norfolk State, where former N.C. State teammate Shakeel Moore and former Lake Taylor teammate Joe Bryant Jr. are respectively starting.

And last month, one of the top players to slow down Seabron was Seabron himself, as he politely tried to tone down the hype surrounding him days after pouring in a career-high 39 points against Nebraska.

“I feel like I’ve been the underdog my whole life, so I’m used to it at this point …” N.C. State’s breakout star said in December. “I feel like even though I had a couple good games, I still have the same mindset, which is to just give it my all every play and every practice – every time I go on the court, go 100%.”

Like Brown said: lanky and nonchalant. Very nonchalant.

Chapel Fowler is a recruiting reporter for The Fayetteville Observer and the USA TODAY Network. Reach him by email at cfowler@gannett.com or on Twitter at @chapelfowler.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: NC State basketball's Dereon Seabron develops into ACC star, NBA target