Ali Farokhmanesh is this week's Sports Illustrated cover boy

Northern Iowa hero Ali Farokhmanesh graces the cover of this week's March 29, 2010, cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, on newsstands tomorrow, with the billing DIVINE MADNESS: BRACKET BUSTERS, BUZZER BEATERS AND THE PERFECT TOURNAMENT.

From SI senior writer Tim Layden's piece: “Farokhmanesh leads the Panthers in minutes (30.3 per game) and three-point field goal attempts (201), an unlikely role for an undersized shooting guard who was not recruited out of West High in Iowa City and attended two junior colleges. ... Farokhmanesh has been launching 600 to 700 shots a day since junior high. Last summer Northern Iowa assistant coach P.J. Hogan would open the gym at 6 a.m. so that Farokhmanesh could shoot before class. Asked what player Farokhmanesh reminds him of, Hogan says, ‘He reminds me of a towel boy.' ”

Says his mother, Cindy Fredrick: “Nobody wanted him. He was a 5' 11" white boy. All my life I've said it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. And he is a fighter and he's a hard worker. From the time he was just a baby, he'd drag us to the gym. Every single day: ‘Let's shoot baskets, let's shoot baskets.' ”