One of March Madness’ most indelible memories is Ali Farokhmanesh getting the ball with a half-minute left and opting to let fly a wide-open 3-pointer against No. 1 seed Kansas.
“Farokhmanesh, a three… GOOD!”
Fifteen years later, that player is now a college basketball coach. Colorado State announced Wednesday it was promoting Faokhmanesh to head coach after seven years as an assistant in Fort Collins.
The Colorado State job became open after incumbent head coach Niko Medved left the program to take the same job with his alma at Minnesota.
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Farokhmanesh became an instant star in 2010 when his Northern Iowa team, a No. 9 seed, stunned top overall seed Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Farokhmanesh, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior, scored a team-high 16 points against a Jayhawks squad that featured future NBA first-round picks Marcus Morris, Markieff Morries, Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry.
Ali Farokhmanesh’s shot against Kansas was pure March Madness. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
(Ronald Martinez via Getty Images)
The lasting moment was Farokhmanesh’s shot. The Panthers had led all game, but a last-minute Kansas comeback pushed them within one with 43 seconds left. The Jawyhawks nearly got a turnover and a chance to take the lead before the ball reached Farokhmanesh, who decided to take the shot of his life rather than try to run out the clock.
Between the basket, the upset, the crowd and the call, it was pure March Madness.
The game was effectively sealed seconds later when Kansas’ Tyrel Reed was called for a charge with 26 seconds left.
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After the Panthers’ subsequent loss to No. 5 Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen, Farokhmanesh went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft and embarked on a professional career overseas, playing for teams in Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands.
He retired as a player in 2014 and moved back stateside to begin his coaching career, first as a graduate assistant with Nebraska. He joined Drake as an assistant coach under Medved in 2017, and followed him to Colorado State a year later.
Now, priority No. 1 for his job will be returning to March Madness. The Rams have made three of the past four tournaments, with an upset of No. 5 Memphis in the first round and a heartbreaker against No. 4 Maryland in the second.