Hlas column: UNI seniors leave, but their legacy will stay

The column is after this video:

ST. LOUIS -- Sixty-five teams play in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and 64 go home with a loss as their last memory.

So it was with Northern Iowa Friday night in the Edward Jones Dome. Though it reached the Sweet 16 for UNI's best NCAA showing ever, it felt too brief to the Panthers. They felt like they had the stuff to keep advancing in this tourney.

Alas, everyone in the second week of this event feels the same. Michigan State has ruined many a dream in the NCAAs for others, and its 59-52 win over the Panthers was no different.

For UNI's starting seniors with the names that give fits to those unfamiliar with them, Jordan Eglseder, Ali Farokhmanesh and Adam Koch seemed to be in stunned disbelief after the game.

Each had personal frustrations. Eglseder got just two field goal tries in the second half after outplaying MSU's big men in the first half when the Panthers built a 29-22 lead.

Farokhmanesh left all of his magic back in Oklahoma City the week before. He was just 1-for-6 from 3-point distance, and even missed three of his seven free throws.

Koch scored nine points in helping UNI get an early 12-8 lead, but only played 18 minutes because of foul problems. With his team down by just 53-51 with 2:05 left, the 84 percent foul-shooter missed two free throws. Things tumbled away from the Panthers after that.

“It's disappointing to pick up your third foul so quickly in the second half,” Koch softly said afterward. “You gotta come out. Then you kind of – it's in your head a little bit, you've got that foul trouble. I don't know. It's just disappointing, I guess.”

Koch had tied the game at 51 with two free throws after he rebounded a missed driving lay-in by Farokhmanesh. The Sports Illustrated cover subject last week is another tournament television-viewer this week. The game can bring elation and pain within the same week.

“I just think for all of us, we didn't want it to end,” Farokhmanesh said. “That's the biggest thing.

“I think we enjoyed playing with each other so much that, yeah, we just didn't want this to end.”

UNI got beat. It was 5-of-21 from the field in the second half, and didn't make a basket in the last 10:21. Michigan State played terrific defense and outrebounded the Panthers 22-10 after halftime.

UNI got beat. It can always wonder what might have been. But what was is the legacy that will last, thanks largely to the three aforementioned seniors.

Two Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles. Two NCAA tourney wins this year. And that win over Kansas that will stand out in college basketball fans' memories long after most of this weekend's regional semifinals and finals have faded.

Panthers Coach Ben Jacobson credited his seniors for “their leadership and the importance that they put on being unselfish, the importance that they put on relationships.

“I mean, they've done such a good job in those areas that we won a lot of basketball games. But their impact is far-reaching. Our community really rallied around us. Our student body rallied around those guys because of their personalities, and that starts with our seniors.

“And because of that we were able to have some success and a lot of fun.”

Jacobson, who made it clear here Thursday that he was planning on sticking around Cedar Falls for a while longer, said reaching the Sweet 16 “was a blast.”

Northern Iowa had never had this kind of opportunity before, to have its fans take over a venue at a national sporting event, to form a semi-circle of purple that surrounded the basketball court and let out “UNI! UNI! UNI!” chants frequently over two hours.

“Coming out of our tunnel and seeing our fans everywhere – they were on all sides of that thing and they were loud,” Jacobson said. “I think that's the thing that, at least in this moment, jumps out is how much fun this has been. And it's been that way because of the guys.”

The Panthers have several real good players back next season, including starting guards Kwadzo Ahelegbe and Johnny Moran, and blossoming freshman forward Jake Koch.

But big brother Adam Koch, giant Eglseder, and little big man Farokhmanesh are leaving behind a big legacy. They and March 2010 won't be forgotten by Panther fans.