Just two seasons ago, Hamed Haddadi became the first Iranian player to play in the NBA.

This year, Arsalan Kazemi became the first Iranian to play Division I men’s basketball in the U.S. and CNN/Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn has written a lengthy article about the young man’s experiences, both on and off the court.

(Discuss Arsalan Kazemi, Hamed Haddadi in our Iranian basketball forum)

On the court, the 19 year old Kazemi is a 6-7, 225lb high-flying forward for the Rice Owls.

Born in Esfahan, Iran, Kazemi is averaging 8.0 points per game, a team-leading 7.7 rebounds in just 21 minutes per game off the bench. The Rice Owls are 4-4.

Off the court, Winn details out Kazemi’s life as he adjusts to American culture, not the least of which is his experiences as an Iranian in a country that doesn’t understand him, such as Kazemi being detained in an airport and how the American media views his home country. See some of the excerpts below:

“...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, “Best of luck in the game. The reason we are here is to support 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).”

Check out the well-detailed story of Arsalan Kazemi at CNN/Sports Illutrated. Also see our forum thread, Kazemi plans to be first Iranian to receive U.S. hoops scholarship.