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Shooting is an art in the sport of basketball. Countless reps from all areas of the court, you work on shooting with the same consistency and follow through to find a rhythm that works for you. It takes focus and confidence to focus on your target with a defender’s hand in your face while also being able to keep shooting if your shot is not falling. As the old saying goes, “Shooters shoot!”
Standing 6-foot-5 with long limbs and long arms that make him look three inches taller than he is. Next in the Tremendous 24 is New Paltz Hawks sharpshooter and SUNYAC champion Lucas Seyoum. It was a hot, scorching summer in June 2023. I’m preparing something to eat as I prepare to interview Seyoum for his first in-depth life interview. My car was hot and humid, like a sauna, so I turned on the air conditioning to cool it off before calling Seyoum for the interview, where we got right into it.
Seyoum was born to his parents, Kefle and Saaba, in Fremont, California, where he lived for the first three years before moving to Richmond, Virginia. After sixth grade, Seyoum moved to Clifton, New York, with a population of over 37,700 people as of 2023. Seyoum first started playing the game of basketball in third grade, where he mentioned a Lakers legend who inspired him to pursue the sport.
“When I was in third grade is when I started really playing it…I started watching a lot of Kobe Bryant. He used to be my idol. My GOAT right there. He really helped me to start to really love the game. When I was little, I tried to model my game like his and kind of became obsessed with the game after that.”
Seyoum also grew to love basketball because of his dad, who played for the national team of Ethiopia, where he gave him pointers and fundamentals about the sport. However, basketball wasn’t the only sport Seyoum played as a child. During his time in Virginia, he also played soccer, which helped him improve his footwork on the basketball court.
“The soccer background definitely helped because it helped a lot with my footwork, and that’s a big part of my game now. My go-to move is my turnaround, and that is very footwork-heavy… I feel like that helped mold me into a better basketball player.”
Once Seyoum moved to Clifton Park from Virginia, where he attended Acadia Middle School. There, he realized he wasn’t as good at basketball as he thought. This led him to start working on his game more, and he knew he had a long way to go if he wanted to play at the highest level.
“In elementary school, I thought I was going to the NBA. I thought there nobody was better than me. Once middle school hit, I was like, damn, this is not going to be that easy. I actually got to work on my game and stuff… That’s when I started really putting in work and falling in love with the process of getting better at basketball.”
Seyoum would attend Shenendehowa High School to play for the Plainsmen, where he would play his first varsity season as a sophomore. The Plainsmen went 20-5 overall and 14-3 in the Section 2 Suburban Y League, where they’d beat Colonie 43-30 to win the sectional title before losing to Liverpool in regionals. He always had the skill but struggled with the physicality of the older kids early on, which made it hard for him to see the court initially.
However, Seyoum used that as fuel to continue working on his game. He hired a personal trainer, Steve Hart, who helped him with dieting and explosiveness. His dedication didn’t stop there, as Seyoum would hit the weight room more to get stronger and withstand the physicality and rigors of the demand basketball could bring.
All that hard work and long, grueling hours led to Seyoum's more intricate role in the next two seasons. They dominated the competition, going 37-8 overall in those two years. In his junior year, they lost to Saratoga Springs 60-53 in a tight semifinal playoff game, and Seyoum recalled the mixed emotions in the locker room after that game.
“It was really sad, especially because Saratoga, for my entire three years of high school basketball, they were our rivals. There were some off-the-court problems with them to between our fans and players…It was deeper than basketball that game…We were in the locker room next to them after that game, and we hear them singing and stuff like that…It was really motivating.”
That motivation helped Seyoum as he put more muscle on his frame that offseason heading into his senior year, and Team Fredette, where he played in elite tournaments such as Hoop Group playing against top competition. Seyoum used those reps to help his team take home the Section 2 Class AA championship 66-61 over Green Tech, a season that included an 11-game win streak and a 21-2 record overall.
He also won the sectional tournament MVP award and was named to the Suburban Council's third team. That season, he even won against their rival Saratoga. After a great high school career, Seyoum continued his basketball career collegiately, committing to the New Paltz Hawks.
“At first, when I was getting recruited, I wasn’t sure what I really wanted to do… I was strictly interested in all the engineering schools, so it helped me narrow my list down to Clarkson and New Paltz. At one point, I was really close to committing to Clarkson, but the coaching staff at New Paltz just made me feel really wanted, so you know that persuaded me to come to New Paltz, and I don’t regret that decision at all.”
The pandemic affected Seyoum’s initial year in 2020-21, but he still practiced with the team, which helped him acclimate to the college game once things resumed in 2021-22. Seyoum shot nearly 40% in three of his first two seasons, helping guide the team to a 15-11 overall record in 2021-22 and 13-14 in 2022-23 in an inconsistent season where Seyoum dealt with nagging ankle injuries that hindered his effectiveness.
Seyoum was a part of their first playoff appearance since 2013 in 2022. Unfortunately, the Hawks lost to the Oswego Lakers in both seasons. The Hawks would lose in a blowout 94-60 loss in 2022 and a gut-wrenching 73-68 loss in 2023 that saw 11 lead changes and the score tied seven times. However, Seyoum and the Hawks would get revenge.
In 2023-24, they added transfers AJ Knight, who added more depth in the backcourt alongside Blondo and Sean, and Ethan St. Lucia and Kobe Bogart in the frontcourt to add more skill and size. The added acquisitions paid off, as the Hawks set records in 2023-24 for the most wins in program history (20) and conference wins (12). However, they finally achieved their ultimate goal, defeating their rival Oswego 85-80 to halt their three-peat to claim their first SUNYAC title in 96 years of the program's history.
Seyoum is now in his final year of eligibility for the Hawks. After college, he plans to become an electrical engineer. He enjoys listening to artists such as Lil Baby, N.L.E. Choppa, and NBA Youngboy, to name a few. Before games, his favorite pre-game meal is a chicken Caesar salad or a turkey sandwich, or whatever has a lot of protein to give him energy for games.
Outside of soccer, Seyoum enjoys reading and playing soccer. When I interviewed him, he was reading about his culture, Ethiopia. I then asked him about his top five NBA players of all time; he mentioned LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bill Russell in that order.
Seyoum goal is to have a happy life and make sure his family is good for future generations. I asked him what he wanted his legacy to be, and he paused before answering:
“I’d like to be thought of as a person that is very driven and works very hard at getting what they need to do done, but always has a good heart doing whatever he does.”
From a skinny kid who used to get beat up on the court, Seyoum built his body and game, eventually becoming a two-time sectional champion at Shenendehowa and a SUNYAC champion at New Paltz. His humbleness yet quiet confidence and relentless work ethic are why he embodies Greatness Within.
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