Hlas column: A year later and an ocean away, Ali Farokhmanesh is still having a ball

Fifty-one weeks ago, Ali Farokhmanesh made his presence known to 15,587 fans in an Oklahoma City arena, and millions of others watching on national television.

Now he makes his 3-pointers and a living in front of crowds one-tenth that size, without a television crew in sight. And he's having a ball.

"Everything's good," Farokhmanesh said recently by phone from Massagno, Switzerland, where he plays professional basketball. "I'm just enjoying life across the pond."

What a year for a young guy, huh? You go from being just another of almost a thousand players in the NCAA tournament to the face of college basketball for a while, then you sign on for seven months of pro ball in a Swiss village 25 miles from Milan, Italy.

The wild ride began a year ago this week. Farokhmanesh's Northern Iowa team had a pretty great season before it got to Oklahoma City for the NCAAs, winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles.

There were those who thought UNI had Sweet 16 potential after the Panthers tore through the MVC tourney for the second-straight year. But when the NCAA pairings came out on Selection Sunday, those hopes were tempered. If the Panthers were to get past UNLV in the first round, they'd collide with top-seed Kansas next.

UNI had a 58-49 second-half lead against UNLV, but the Runnin' Rebels slapped on a full-court press that worked wonderfully and helped erase the lead. The score was tied at 66, UNI had the ball in the last 30 seconds, and point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe dribbled, dribbled, dribbled. He was hounded by the Rebels and without a timeout left to call.

Ahelegbe finally got loose enough to pass the ball to guard Johnny Moran, who could have shot himself but instead whipped a cross-court pass to the open Farokhmanesh.

The former Iowa City West and Kirkwood Community College player fired from 25 feet out. Then he stood and watched as the ball splashed through the net with 4.9 seconds left. Game-winner.

Coincidentally, Farokhmanesh's parents, Cindy Fredrick and Mashallah Farokhmaensh. were hired by UNLV last December as the school's head and assistant volleyball coaches, respectively.

Next up was Kansas, which took a 2-0 lead 17 seconds into the game. And never led again. UNI was simply the better team over the first 38 minutes.

However, the Jayhawks used a desperation-fueled pressure defense in the final 1:07 to cut a 63-56 deficit to 63-62. What happened next went straight to college basketball lore.

Kansas just missed picking off a bounce pass to Ahelegbe in the backcourt. Ahelegbe instantly fired the ball down the floor to Farokhmanesh, who was standing just beyond the 3-point circle. He was wide open.

The prudent decision might have been to dribble out some time and work for a higher-percentage shot deeper into the shot clock. Farokhmanesh gave it a moment of thought. Then he shot it, with :34 left. He shot his way to the cover of Sports Illustrated, to the ESPY awards. He shot Northern Iowa to basketball's upset of the year.

"You can't be serious with that shot!" CBS announcer Dan Bonner shouted in marvel and disbelief.

The 3-pointer (and freshman Jake Koch taking a charge at the other end of the floor) secured the win and a Sweet 16 berth for the Panthers. It made Farokhmanesh the proverbial household name.

"I'll always remember that moment right after the buzzer," he said. "Everybody was going nuts. We couldn't control ourselves."

A lot of people will always remember that moment.

"My first day of conditioning here," Farokhmanesh said, "three of my new teammates said I ruined their bracket last year. Every once in a while after games when we're in the line shaking hands, somebody from the other team will say something to me about that game. It's surreal."

While he will probably never have a stage like the one he starred on a year ago, Farokhmanesh is still showing plenty of game. As of March 5, he was averaging 20.2 points for his Swiss team, and had made a whopping 50.3 percent (82-of-163) of his 3-point tries.

"I'm playing 35 minutes a game," he said. "I'm shooting the ball pretty well, and it's fun kind of changing my game up a little bit. I'm doing some things off the dribble. I'm really liking it.

"I miss my family, I miss my friends. I miss McDonald's. That part of my life is kind of on hold. But being able to come over here and play professionally, I can't complain. I want to play as long as my knees hold up, then eventually get into coaching."

Probably, somewhere in the NCAAs this week another player will make a game-winning shot and a new star will be born. If so, you know whose name will be brought into the conversation.

Ali. The shortest guy on the court, who knocked out a giant.