Arsalan Kazemi

“There have been more than 450 basketball transfers — a record high — in collegiate athletics over the past year, and unfortunately, Rice is not immune,” Rice AD Rick Greenspan said in a statement. “We take pride in the high graduation rate of our Rice student-athletes, and we’re always sad when a student-athlete leaves without finishing his or her degree, but we wish Arsalan all the best.”

Kazemi, a 6-foot-7 senior who averaged 12.1 points and 10.3 rebounds last season, told Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com he is considering six schools — Kentucky, Texas, Oregon, Ohio State, Florida and Cincinnati.

Cincinnati is not an option, a source close to the program told SNY.tv.

“I’m trying to go to a high-major program for my final season,” Kazemi, originally from Iran, told CBSSports. “Those are the schools I’m interested in, but I’ll also consider other schools.”

As CBS reported, Kazemi follows five other transfers out the door – Omar Oraby (USC), Dylan Ennis (Vllanova), Jarelle REischel (Rhode Island), David Chadwick (Valparaiso) and Ahmad Ibrahim (overseas).

“I have no idea [why they left],” senior guard Tamir Jackson of Paterson, N.J., told SNY.tv. “You’ll have to ask them. I’m here to stay and finish out what I started.”

Said head coach Ben Braun: “Last season we had the most wins since 2004-05, we equaled our best Conference USA record, and we had the highest GPA in our history. The team is proud of those accomplishments and is training hard for the coming season.”

Photo: Rice

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Kelvin Amayo

Amayo’s teammates at Newark Nia Prep, Shaquille Thomas (Cincinnati) and Ryan Rhoomes (TCU), are both headed to the Big East (TCU beginning in 2012), and he wants the chance to compete against them.

“I want to play against Shaq and Ryan,” the Hillside, N.J., said Friday by phone. “I gotta kill Shaq and Ryan when they get to the Big East.”

Right now, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Amayo is considering Seton Hall, Towson and the College of Charleston. He will take officials next week to Towson (Tuesday) and Charleston (Thursday).

Obviously, Seton Hall is the only Big East school in the mix.

Amayo said he met with Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard this week and that the Pirates see Amayo as a wing player who can back up rising sophomore Fuquan Edwin of Paterson, N.J.

“He was just telling me if I want to go there, Fu is on the wing,” Amayo said. “They would want me to play on the wing.”

Seton Hall could start a lineup that features Jordan Theodore at the point, incoming frosh Aaron Cosby at the two, Edwin at the wing, Herb Pope at the four and incoming big man Kevin Johnson at the five.

Amayo sees himself as multi-faceted player who can play the one, two or three and he said both Towson and Charleston are offering the chance to play in the backcourt.

“The reason why I’m going to take an official to Towson is Coach [Pat] Skerry has been recruiting me since my sophomore year when he was at Providence and he was recruiting me when he was at Pitt,” Amayo said. “I have to go up there and see what he’s talking about. And he’s talking about building a team around me.”

As for Charleston, he said, “They want a big time player to average double-figures and play the one and the two.”

He added: “At Charleston and Towson, I could play the point more than the wing. Point guard and shooting guard. I can get the rebound and lead the break, running the team.”

Amayo recently visited Rice, which also features Paterson guard Tamir Jackson, but said they are off his list now.

“I’m not really looking at Rice anymore,” he said. “It’s a great school. It’s a little bit too far away for me. It’s a great area, the campus is perfect.”

Rutgers was also in the mix but Amayo said they made him wait too long before deciding what to do.

Ultimately, Rutgers landed New Jersey native Eli Carter to play the two guard and Amayo says he has no hard feelings.

“They got one of my best friends,” he said of Carter. “He’s a great guard. It’s no hard feelings, they got a great guard. But they made me wait for two months.”

So after next week, Amayo will have taken three officials — Rice, Towson and Charleston — leaving two remaining.

He said he plans to reconvene with Seton Hall after the visits to see where he stands, and may take an additional official as well.

“I’m probably going to take all my five officials most likely,” he said.

Still, his ultimate goal remains the same.

“My ultimate goal,” he said, “is to play in the Big East.”

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Alif Muhammad of NIA Prep said Louisville coach Rick Pitino also called Amayo Tuesday to express interest.

The 6-foot-5 Amayo is considering Rice and Towson, but Virginia Tech and Wyoming have also expressed interest.

Muhammad said Rutgers was no longer an option for Amayo.

Having lost Tyree Graham to injury and Mike Taylor to prep school, Mike Rice’s club is also considering Brewster (N.H.) Academy guard Eli Carter, Huntington (WV) Prep combo guard Maurice Aniefiok and 6-4 shooting guard Chris Adams of MACK Prep in Charlotte, N.C.

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UNION, N.J. — Kelvin Amayo

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound fifth-year point guard shared the gym with Rutgers head coach Mike Rice, Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard and other coaches, which seems only appropriate since he’s being courted by various Big East schools.

“I have offers from Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Colorado, Iowa State, some more schools,” Amayo, a Hillside, N.J. native, said during a break in the action. “Arizona State just came in today, so I don’t have no favorite right now.”

He added: “Pittsburgh and Rutgers are recruiting me the hardest.”

He’s also slated to visit Rice University Jan. 18. Rice features another New Jersey product in former St. Ben’s point guard Tamir Jackson.

Amayo said he’s “leaning to the Big East, but if Pac-10 or Big 12 or any other conference comes, I’ll lean to that, too.”

Amayo is not considered a pure point guard or a pure shooter, more of an athletic combo guard.

“I’m a guard that can get to the rim with ease,” he said. “And I’ve been working on my pullup jumper so I come down and shoot jumpers now. I think I’ll be an impact player.”

Said NIA Prep coach Rudy King: “Kelvin is a spectacular athlete who has the ability to not only play at the next level but also have an immediate impact for the right program.

“Kelvin has proven he’s virtually impossible to stop from going to the rim against anybody in the USA. To Kelvin’s credit he is working many hours developing his jumper to balance out his offensive output which is already explosive.

“He is also making a commitment to be more consistent on the defensive end, which he has the ability to do at a high level because of his soccer background. He has extremely quick feet and once this happens we may be saying Kelvin’s name for years to come because he’s that talented.”

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NEW YORK — Jarelle Reischel wrestled hard with his college decision before announcing Wednesday.

The 6-foot-6, 208-pound wing from Point Pleasant Beach (N.J.) High had narrowed his options to Penn State, Rice and Seton Hall before ultimately choosing Rice.

“They really believe and care about me,” Reischel told ZAGSBLOG.com. “I think it’s an opportunity where I can play right away in Conference  USA.

“Coach [Ben] Braun is a great coach. He’s had a lot of success. He’s had 21 pros through his years. He has the experience. He knows the position I have to be to make it to the next level.”

Reischel joins 6-5 Washington, D.C. shooting guard Julian DeBose and 6-2 point guard Dylan Ennis of Illinois in Rice’s 2011 class.

“Ben Braun has done a really good job coaching players like him and I think he’ll do a good job with him,” New York recruiting guru Tom Konchalski said.

“He has a lot of potential. This past year he was catching up basketball-wise. He played for the Metrohawks in the spring and summer. I think that helped him. He has good skill. He needs a level of better competition. He’s a guy who’s nose has got to calcify. He has to get tougher.”

Reischel averaged 23 points, 12 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.5 steals last season for head coach Nick Catania.

“[I'm] somebody that competes day in, day out every day,” he said. “Somebody that’s going to play every day and just give everything he has. With my versatility, I can shoot, I can score, I can defend, I can rebound. Just an overall complete player.”

Said Catania: “His biggest asset is that he does everything well. He doesn’t do necessarily one thing great. But he can post it, he can shoot it, he can drive it, he can handle it. He can rebound it. He plays one through five for us.”

Reischel was born in Germany and lived there until he was 16 because his father was in the military. He previously played on the German U16 team and said he learned to play a more fundamental style there.

“The European style is a little different,” he said. “More cuts and screens and off-the-ball stuff. When you go to America, you have guys who really dominate.

“That’s what I have to learn, to really come over and dominate and become a complete player.”

WILLIAMS TO OHIO STATE

Amir Williams, a 6-9, 220-pound center from Beverly Hills (Mich.) Country Day, chose Ohio State over Florida, according to reports.

The No. 7 center in the Class of 2011, Williams reportedly also had offers from Michigan, Arizona, Duke, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Texas, Wake Forest and Wisconsin

“I felt very comfortable with coach [Thad] Matta, his coaching staff and the players,” Williams told ESPN.com. “They were like a family. “My parents liked everything better than I did. They loved the school, the academic support and the basketball program.”

If superstar frosh Jared Sullinger bolts to the NBA after one year, Williams can step in to the spot.

“Coach Matta told me they needed an athletic center that can play right away because of the graduation of power forward/center Dallas Lauderdale and the possibility of Jared Sullinger being one and done,” Williams told ESPN.com.

(Photos courtesy JohnnyJungle.com, Rivals.com)

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Freddie Wilson

Wilson, who averaged 21 points, eight assists and five rebounds, also considered Fordham and Drexel.

“He’s a combination guard,” New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said. “Very high energy. Quick, very aggressive. Never takes a step backward. He attacks the basket and is always in attack mode. Not a pure point, not a pure shooter, but very high energy. He can be a very good press player.”

Said Sullivan: “He’s a pass-first point guard but if you need him to score he can do that also.”

Wilson joins 6-2 point guard Aaron Cosby of Northfield (Mass.) Mount Hermon and 6-6 shooting guard Haralds Karlis of the Canarias Basketball Academy in Seton Hall’s 2011 recruiting class.

The Pirates have up to six scholarships to give and head coach Kevin Willard said he will make an announcement when the fall class is complete.

MEIKLE TO ST. JOHN’S

Dwight Meikle, a 6-foot-9 Uniondale, N.Y. native now playing at Quality Education (N.C.) Academy, committed to St. John’s coach Steve Lavin while Lavin was “walking the yard” at Alcatraz.

“Yes, he committed before he ever visited,” Quality Education coach Isaac Pitts said by phone. “He was familiar with St. John’s from being born there [in New York]. Dom Pointer committed and that’s his roommate. He knew a lot about it. Sometimes it’s players recruiting players.”

Pitts said Meikle chose the Johnnies over Seton Hall and Rice.

“I kind of felt like he was going to go to Seton Hall,” Pitts said. “I guess when Dominic committed and signed, they’re really good friends.”

Pitts said Meikle can help the Johnnies in the frontcourt with his skill-set. He’s averaging 17.5 points and eight rebounds as the team is off to a 5-0 start.

“He’s very, very skilled and long,” Pitts said. “He’s 6-9 and can stretch the defense and shoot the 3. He can put it on the floor. He’s got an inside/outside game. He’s a tremendous offensive skilled player.”

“Dwight is a New York native returning home,” Lavin said. “He is a long, highly-skilled athlete who really shoots it well for his size. His versatility and ability to play the power and small forward positions make him a great fit for the future of our program, in terms of our game-planning.”

The Johnnies now have seven commits for 2011: Meikle, Pointer, Maurice Harkless, D’Angelo Harrison, JaKarr Sampson, Norvel Pelle and Nurideen Lindsey.

REISCHEL TO ANNOUNCE WEDNESDAY

Point Pleasant (N.J.) wing Jarelle Reischel will announce Wednesday between Seton Hall, Penn State and Rice.

“He hasn’t made up his mind yet,” Point Pleasant coach Nick Catania said. “As of last night [Monday] he hadn’t decided. He still said he would be ready by Wednesday.

“He came over from Germany with nothing. It’s not that they’re not good enough [schools], they’re all very good to him. That’s why he goes back and forth.”

(Photo courtesy New Haven Register).

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Having already visited Rice officially, Reischel will visit Seton Hall Oct. 14, Georgetown Oct. 21, Penn State Oct. 30 and Temple at a date TBD.

“They’re all kind of equal,” he said Friday by phone. “I visited all of them unofficially. I’ll get a better feel for which school will lead after I take my official visits.”

Reischel was born in Hamburg, Germany because his father, Terry Carter, who was born on Long Island, was in the military. He is currently stationed in Kuwait.

He said Seton Hall has the advantage of being half an hour from his home in New Jersey.

“It’s close to home, definitely,” he said.

“I like them,” he added. “The new coaching staff is great. They’re trying to take over the program and turn it around and Coach [Kevin] Willard has great experience.  He coached five years in the NBA with the Boston Celtics.”

Wherever he lands, Reischel figures his versatility will help.

“I’m going to be a two guard,” he said. “My versatility and my size at the two guard position [will help]. I know how to play basketball and me coming from Germany, the European style has a lot of passing, a lot of system play. I fit into that well.

“I can play American-style basketball, shooting. I can play defense and offense. I can pretty much guard every position.”

(Photo courtesy NJHoops.com)

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He visits Rice Thursday, Georgetown (Oct. 8), Seton Hall (Oct. 14), Penn State (Oct. 28) and Temple (TBD), according to his high school coach, Nick Catania.

“They’re all in a pretty good position,” Catania said. “They’ve all worked pretty hard at it. That’s coming from him.”

Reischel was born in Germany because his father, Terry Carter, was in the military. He averaged 23 points, 13 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals last season.

“He will be a better college player than a high school player because he’s so unselfish by nature,” Catania said. “He’ll be around better players. When you’re around college players, you’re going to be around other D-1 players. People haven’t gotten to see the best of him. He’s not going to shine on the AAU circuit. He’s more of a system player. He likes to move the basketball around, get up and down the court, make the extra pass. He’s a good teammate.”

HINDS TO HIT UCLA

Mount Vernon point guard Jabarie Hinds confirmed he will take an official to UCLA this weekend. He will then visit UConn the weekend of Oct. 1 and West Virginia Oct. 14. Hinds recently tripped to UNLV.

(Photo courtesy HoopGroup)

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“The kid shoved me and took my legs out and my face hit the ground pretty hard,” recalled Arcidiacono, a 16-year-old rising junior at Neshaminy (Pa.) High School. “It just hurt. It felt like I had a golf ball in my face. I had blood on my hands. It was just gushing blood.”

It was after midnight when Gene Rice, Arcidiacono’s AAU coach with the PA Playaz, took his 6-foot-4, 190-pound point guard to the Wake Forest University Medical Center where he took eight stitches in the forehead.

“The doctor said if it was his kid he wouldn’t let me play [the next day],” Arcidiacono said.

“If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have played the kid,” Rice added.

But of course he wanted to.

The subject came up as a hungry Arcidiacono dined on waffles and a cheeseburger with Rice and his wife, Michele, at a Waffle House after 1 a.m. Saturday.

“Please let me play,” the player begged his coach.

At 7 a.m., Ryan got on the phone and woke up his parents, Joe, a former Villanova football player who stands 6-5, and Patti, a registered nurse.

“I have to play,” he said.

“We both said ‘OK’ as he would not take no for an answer,” Joe said.

The PA Playaz had three games scheduled for Saturday and one Sunday.

“I was only supposed to warm up but I got the green light to play,” Ryan said.

Arcidiacono then went out and turned heads for the remainder of the tournament as the Playaz went 3-2, drawing rave reviews from the national recruiting experts and scouts who were there.

“He went out with the stitches and a big bandage and competed the way he competes,” Rice said. “He averaged over 25 points a game.”

He drained 19 3-pointers on the weekend, including six in one game.

Entering the weekend, Arcidiacono held offers from Rutgers, St. Joe’s and Rice.

By the time the weekend was ending, Rice was hearing from high-major programs across the nation.

“He’s being recruited by Syracuse, Villanova, Penn State, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Temple and Princeton,” Rice said.

“I got a call from the University of Florida. As I was leaving people from Clemson were trying to talk to me. North Carolina State was in my ear.”

Arcidiacono also mentioned Texas, Notre Dame and St. John’s. Rice said Arcidiacono had been invited to St. John’s Skills & Shooting Camp this weekend.

The funny thing is, Rice said Arcidiacono didn’t even play exceptionally well at Bob Gibbons.

“He played well this weekend but he didn’t play any better than he did he every other tournament,” Rice said.

Before Arcidiacono arrived at Neshaminy High, the program had gone 3-22 in each of the previous two seasons, or 6-44 combined.

They made the district playoffs his freshman season. During his sophomore year, they reached the state playoffs for the first time since 2000 before falling to Penn Wood.

Arcidiacono was named second-team All-State in Pennsylvania’s Class AAAA grouping after averaging 18 points per game.

He was invited to the NBA Top 100 Camp in Virginia this month as one of only 15 rising juniors to attend.

He says it’s still too early to make any serious college plans.

“I’m considering every place right now,” he said. “It’s still early.”

Rutgers was the first school to offer under former coach Fred Hill and Rice thinks that could be a good landing spot for Arcidiacono.

“Rutgers has a good shot,” Rice said. “They have a real close-knit family and they all live in New Jersey and Bucks County, Pa.

“They all want to see him play in a big-time college and see him go to a place where they put the ball in his hands and it’s close enough so the family can watch.”

Arcidiacono has been to Rutgers a couple of times unofficially but has yet to meet new coach Mike Rice. He does know recruiting coordinator Jimmy Carr, who also worked under Hill.

“I’ve never met the new coach,” Arcidiacono said. “Fred Hill, I liked him but I’ll have to keep everything open.”

(Photos courtesy MaxPreps.com)

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What the press release from UConn announcing the presser did not mention — and what The Hartford Courant first reported — is that assistant coach Pat Sellers and director of basketball operations Beau Archibald have resigned from the staff in the wake of the investigation.

Sellers did not immediately respond to a text message and a voicemail seeking comment.

A year ago, Yahoo! Sports chronicled NCAA violations which occurred during UConn’s pursuit of recruit Nate Miles.

The Tampa Tribune later reported that Josh Nochimson, a former UConn student manager who became a sports agent, paid several thousand dollars for Miles to have surgery in December 2007.

“Could I have made a mistake? Sure.” UConn head coach Jim Calhoun told Yahoo! Sports during the 2009 NCAA tournament. “The [rules] manual is 508 pages. Someone could’ve made a mistake.”

In attendance at the press conference will be Calhoun, Director of Athletics Jeffrey A. Hathaway and Rick Evrard, the University’s outside counsel for NCAA-related matters.

SKERRY LEAVES PROVIDENCE FOR PITT

Jamie Dixon didn’t have to look outside the Big East to replace departed assistant Tom Herrion, who got the head job at Marshall.

The Pittsburgh head coach hired Providence assistant Pat Skerry away from the Rhode Island school to join his staff.

“I appreciate the opportunity to have had Pat work with us the last two seasons,” Providence coach Keno Davis said in a statement.

“As a head coach you always have to be prepared if a staff member leaves. We feel we are well positioned to improve our staff in the coming weeks. It became evident that our coaching staff has made great progress here at Providence. We have an excellent recruiting class coming in and our staff has worked very hard to improve the talent level.”

Skerry is one of the top recruiters in the Big East and helped bring in freshman point guard Vincent Council of Brooklyn as well as incoming 6-4 shooting guard Gerard Coleman of The Tilton (N.H.) School.

Skerry also recruited junior point guard Naadir Tharpe of Brewster (N.H.) Academy.

“I have not had an opportunity to speak with Naadir about it,” Brewster coach Jason Smith wrote by text. “We are in final exams. The prom is tonight [Thursday] and graduation is Saturday morning.”

Providence recently lost its top returning scorer, Jamine “Greedy” Peterson of Brooklyn, when he was removed from the team for a violation of team rules.

Peterson’s dismissal followed the arrests of teammates Johnnie Lacy and James Still, who were charged with assault and were suspended pending an investigation. Lacy already said he would transfer.

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Rice associate coach Louis Reynaud is in the mix to join Oregon’s staff as an assistant, sources said.

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