From zero to hero: How failure fueled this Derby senior to high school basketball stardom
It wasn’t that long ago when Kaeson Fisher-Brown felt like the weak link on the basketball court.
That’s hard to believe about a player who just scored 48 combined points to help the Derby boys basketball team take down back-to-back ranked opponents in McPherson and Andover Central to begin the season.
But Fisher-Brown made sure to never forget that helpless feeling on those long car rides home from AAU tournaments after not scoring a single point the entire weekend.
“Failing helped me so much along the way,” Fisher-Brown said. “I always believed that I was going to be (successful), but I knew I wasn’t there quite yet. I knew that basketball was the one thing in life I wanted to do more than anything. So I just went to work.”
The work done by Fisher-Brown has since reached myth-like status in Derby.
“Kaeson is the hardest worker I’ve ever coached and it’s not really close,” Derby coach Brett Flory said. “That kid spends more time in the gym than any player I’ve ever coached. If we built him a bedroom somewhere near the gym in the school, I think he would probably just stay there.”
So how did Fisher-Brown go from an afterthought on the basketball court to a budding superstar who is now signed to play college basketball at the NCAA Div. II level at Newman?
“Once I realized these dudes are so much better than me, I knew that in order to catch up to them, I had to outwork them,” Fisher-Brown said.
Days usually begin for Fisher-Brown with a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call and a drive to the gym for a work-out before the sun is even up.
During the offseason, he enjoys playing in pick-up games at the Derby Recreation Center with older players like Nyjee Wright and James Conley, two past Derby standouts who excelled in college basketball. During the season, he’ll show up at Derby High School to practice on his own more than an hour before varsity practices in the morning. Flory said his star player showed up 90 minutes before the team’s Sunday practice during Thanksgiving week to put in time on the shooting gun.
After school, Fisher-Brown likes to head straight to the weight room for a lifting session followed by a skills workout with any one of his trainers, which include Wright, Conley and Adrian Maloney Jr. He’ll often do a training session immediately following a high school practice in the afternoon, as well. When he’s done with the skills training, Fisher-Brown said he always tries to end his day by making at least 1,000 shots in an empty gym.
“Then I go home, eat, sleep and then repeat it all over again,” Fisher-Brown said.
That level of dedication is how Fisher-Brown went from not playing varsity his first two years of high school to becoming the go-to player on one of the top teams in Class 6A this season.
“His hero is Kobe Bryant and it’s a lot to say a high school kid has a Mamba mentality, but as much as any kid in high school could, Kaeson has that,” Flory said. “His work ethic is just off the charts.”
The 6-foot-2 guard has blossomed into a three-level scorer for Derby, capable of finishing at the rim, driving and pulling up for a jumper or nailing a three-pointer if a defender goes under a ball screen. Flory raves about the maturity of Fisher-Brown, who he says is already making college-level reads in ball-screen actions.
After flashing his potential in spurts during the second half of last season, Fisher-Brown has loudly announced his ascendance to stardom in the first two games of his senior season.
It was a particularly meaningful milestone to mark how far he has come when he scored 25 points to lead Derby to a win over Andover Central, led by one of the best players in the state in Kobe Smith, this past Friday. Last year it was Smith, a returning All-Metro pick, scoring 21 to lead the Jaguars to a 23-point blowout win over the Panthers last season.
“That was a team who came out and gave it to us pretty good last year,” Fisher-Brown said. “I knew this year we would come out ready against them. Kobe is a big name around here and rightfully so, but at the end of the day, I know I am who I am.”
Even though Fisher-Brown might not have the status of some of the best players in Kansas high school basketball, his coach believes he will prove that he belongs on that tier with his play this season.
“There’s a handful of players you can make an argument are the best player in the state and I firmly believe he is in that handful,” Flory said. “Not a lot of people probably know about that yet, but I think they’re going to be finding out real fast. Of course I’m biased, but I wouldn’t trade him for anybody.”
Fisher-Brown is finally achieving some of his dreams that seemed so far-fetched just four years ago — the 20-point scoring outbursts, leading his team to big wins, the attention next to his name — but he still carries himself the same way: overlooked, underrated and the ultimate underdog.
He is seeing results from his hard work, but instead of feeling satisfied, Fisher-Brown is feeling more motivated than ever.
“I knew that if I trusted my work, it was all going to come together,” Fisher-Brown said. “At the end of the day, I know I’m outworking everybody and I’m going to continue to do that and rise above. But I also know that I still have so much left to accomplish. My end goal is to play professional basketball and I’m not even college-ready, if I’m being realistic with myself. There’s so much work to be done. So even though I have a little bit of status now, that’s great, but this isn’t my end goal. So I’m going to keep working.”
Kansas high school basketball scores
Note: Scores are from games played on Friday, Dec. 9.
Boys
Bishop Carroll 78, East 48
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 52, South 51
Northwest 71, North 52
West 75, Southeast 65
Derby 55, Andover Central 48
Maize 46, Eisenhower 45
McPherson 71, Andover 64
Hutchinson 69, Buhler 35
Valley Center 50, Andale 46
Arkansas City 53, Clearwater 18
Rose Hill 52, Garden Plain 37
Augusta 65, Abilene 62
Spring Hill 62, Trinity Academy 42
Hesston 50, Nickerson 18
Hillsboro 74, Lyons 54
Douglass 35, Sedgwick 31
Sunrise Christian 64, Kingman 48
Concordia 65, Smoky Valley 59
Ellinwood 71, Cunningham 50
McPherson Elyria Christian 51, Little River 46
Norwich 61, Burden-Central 51
West Elk 59, Hartford 30
Girls
Bishop Carroll 56, East 32
Northwest 55, North 28
South 55, Kapaun Mt. Carmel 36
Southeast 84, West 17
Derby 55, Andover Central 45
Eisenhower 42, Maize 22
McPherson 65, Andover 41
Hutchinson 62, Buhler 44
Andale 45, Valley Center 17
Clearwater 61, Arkansas City 37
Garden Plain 51, Rose Hill 23
Spring Hill 50, Trinity Academy 27
Hesston 58, Nickerson 39
Hillsboro 51, Lyons 27
Smoky Valley 47, Concordia 27
Sunrise Christian 44, Kingman 42
Sedgwick 42, Douglass 33
Bluestem 43, Cherryvale 28
Cunningham 63, Stafford 3
Little River 64, McPherson Elyria Christian 39
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 7:54 AM.
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