RUS - It's lift-off for Sergey Karasev

CARACAS (2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - There's nothing quite as exciting in basketball as to watch a young player burst onto the scene and start to make his mark with a national team.

One such player at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Caracas, Venezuela, is Sergey Karasev, a shooting guard who this time last year was running up and down the floor at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Riga.

Now, at the age of 18, Sergey is a part of one of the best national sides in Europe, Russia.

On Monday, coach David Blatt played him 15 minutes and he helped the Russians win decisively against Korea, 91-56.

Sergey had seven points, a couple of rebounds and two steals.

"I tried to work hard all season, and the coach called me into the camp of 16 guys and when I came, Coach Blatt said to me, 'Don't worry. Play your game and you must go in this team," Sergey said to FIBA.com.

Anyone that has followed Karasev's progress the past couple of years will remember him competing at the U18 All-Star Game in Kaunas, Lithuania, during the EuroBasket.

He looked on in wonder the afternoon of the Semi-Finals and saw Spain beat the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and then watched as France beat Russia.

Sergey said at the time that he envisioned himself playing at the level.

The following day, when the U18 All-Star Game was played, Sergey also took part in the dunking contest and won.

Blatt served as one of the judges.

"I voted for him," Blatt said, before admitting, "It was the first time I really started to think about him."

Sergey remembers that day well, too.

"I sent a message to him," Karasev said.

"I won the contest and we ended up communicating a lot during the season while I played for Triumph (Lyubertsy).

"He watched my games on the internet and told me what to do."

Sergey moved from strength to strength after his display in Kaunas.

He helped Triumph, a side coached by his father, former Russia national team point guard Vasily Karasev, reach the EuroChallenge Final Four and a top-four finish in Russia's Professional Basketball League.

"He's a very, very big talent," Blatt said.

"He's a very, very good kid, great bloodlines with his father being one of the great players of Russian basketball and his mother was a great volleyball player.

"He's a kid that understands what it's all about and wants to be good. You know, we took a kid that's 18 and a half years old into the Russian national team so he's he must be something."

How does Russia's most famous player, Andrey Kirilenko, view Sergey?

"I'm not surprised," Kirilenko said to FIBA.com.

"He had a great season in Russia. I played in Russia (with CSKA Moscow) and saw him there and for the past month, he did a pretty good job with the Russia national team, earning that spot in the national team.

"I think he's got a great future if he's willing to work.

"He just needs to put his mind on it and keep grinding.

"It's a work in process.

"Right now, he's got everything but he just needs time to blossom."

FIBA