Nice article from CNN. Fairly long but worth a read. Good luck to him 
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200.../12/09/kazemi/
Kazemi quietly made his mark in the history between the U.S. and Iran, when Rice coach Ben Braun put the 6-foot-7 freshman into the Owls' home opener against Sacramento State with 15:52 left in the first half and Rice leading 13-0. The scoreboard made no acknowledgement of the event, and the crowd of 1,631 was mostly silent. But looking on with cautious optimism were a handful of Kazemi's countrymen: one of his former junior national team coaches, who has an auto-parts business in Houston; an electrical engineering professor at Rice; and two brothers who own an upscale men's clothing store in Houston. (One of the brothers walked up to Kazemi in the pregame layup line to tell him, "We are very excited to be here for you.")
Arsalan is a Turkish name that means lion, and Kazemi can sometimes appear sleepy on the floor, his expression blank and his head lolling -- then roar to life with a surprising aerial burst that nets him a rebound or dunk, or make a quick step into a passing lane for a steal. At July's FIBA Under-19 Championships in New Zealand (where the U.S. won gold and Iran went 1-4), Kazemi ranked first in steals (4.0 per game), second in rebounding (12.2) and eighth in points (16.6). At Rice, he's been playing 20.7 minutes per game off the bench, leading the 4-4 Owls in rebounding with a 7.1 game; he's also their fifth-leading scorer, with 8.0 points per game.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200.../12/09/kazemi/
Kazemi quietly made his mark in the history between the U.S. and Iran, when Rice coach Ben Braun put the 6-foot-7 freshman into the Owls' home opener against Sacramento State with 15:52 left in the first half and Rice leading 13-0. The scoreboard made no acknowledgement of the event, and the crowd of 1,631 was mostly silent. But looking on with cautious optimism were a handful of Kazemi's countrymen: one of his former junior national team coaches, who has an auto-parts business in Houston; an electrical engineering professor at Rice; and two brothers who own an upscale men's clothing store in Houston. (One of the brothers walked up to Kazemi in the pregame layup line to tell him, "We are very excited to be here for you.")
Arsalan is a Turkish name that means lion, and Kazemi can sometimes appear sleepy on the floor, his expression blank and his head lolling -- then roar to life with a surprising aerial burst that nets him a rebound or dunk, or make a quick step into a passing lane for a steal. At July's FIBA Under-19 Championships in New Zealand (where the U.S. won gold and Iran went 1-4), Kazemi ranked first in steals (4.0 per game), second in rebounding (12.2) and eighth in points (16.6). At Rice, he's been playing 20.7 minutes per game off the bench, leading the 4-4 Owls in rebounding with a 7.1 game; he's also their fifth-leading scorer, with 8.0 points per game.
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