One would think that when a player makes not one, but two of the most memorable shots in the NCAA Tournament, while helping to propel their squad to the Sweet 16, they would get at least an invite to an NBA training camp. But apparently that wasn’t the case as former University of Northern Iowa stand-out Ali Farokhmanesh, who gained national noteriety, not only for his unique and catchy name, but for draining a 33 foot bomb to knock off UNLV, and another clutch 3 pointer in the last minute to help beat the then #1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks. His clutch shooting even earned him a spot as a cover-boy for an issue of Sports Illustrated.
While Ali was quite the clutch player, his stats on the year weren’t that overwhelming as he averaged 9.7 ppg and shot 37% from behind the arc. He can be considered a success story since he toiled in the junior college ranks for two seasons at Indian Hills and Kirkwood Community Colleges before being offered a scholarship to Northern Iowa. His professional career will now officially begin with Team Massagano in Switzerland.
Farokhmanesh’s lesser known teammate, Adam Koch, who was named the ‘09-’10 Missouri Valley Conference’s Player of the Year after averaging 11.7 points and 4.7 rebounds will also be joining Ali overseas playing for a team in the Czech Republic near Prague. Adam, along with Farokhmanesh, and 7 foot and nearly 300lb Jordan Eglseder at center helped to propel the Panthers to an impressive 30-5 regular season mark, as they ranked among the Top 25 teams in the nation all season. But it was their impressive run in the post-season, spurred by Farokhmanesh’s clutch heroics that helped them become media darlings as many in-game announcers referred to them as one of this past year’s “Cinderella” stories of the Big Dance. With so many upperclassmen exiting the program due to graduation, the UNI Panthers will be hard pressed to match their outstanding ’09-’10 campaign. To make matters worse, their first game will be against the always tough 2-3 zone of Syracuse University.
Check out Ali’s late game clinching trey to help upset Kansas in the ’10 NCAA Tourney:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
