UNI - Ali Farokhmanesh

This University of Northern Iowa NCAA men's basketball player is becoming more of a household word. His name, Ali Farokhmanesh, pronounced fuh-ROKE-muh-nesh, is quoted along with statistics about his long range shooting during the tournament thus far.

UNI has been victorious, and caused many folks to tear up their NCAA bracket sheets, against UNLV and No. 1 Kansas.

Ali, is having a blast coming out of no-where to appearing on live TV with CBS Sports' Greg Gumbel, Seth Davis and Greg Anthony. He was also a guest on the Dan Patrick Radio Show, and visited with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt.

We still have a lot to learn about this fellow, Farokhmanesh, with the almost unpronounceable name. He came from high school at Iowa City West in Iowa. No one wanted to recruit him, even when his coach sent out tapes. He played at Kirkwood Junior College in Iowa, helping them to third place in the national junior college tournament.

He measures around 6 feet tall and his typical practice includes between 500-750 shots with many of those going through the hoops.

His father was a member of the Iranian Olympic volleyball team in 1980. They don't even talk about it. Not ever!

His friends call him by lots of names - including Stroke, Muhammad and Faroak, but they all enjoy and are amused at how badly the announcers screw up his name. He says he's embarrassed by all the attention.

Dealing with Farokhmanesh is a difficult task. Ali is a competitor and takes it all to heart. Other's may underestimate Ali and that's OK with him.

Farokhmanesh's shooting and fist clenching photo landed him on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated. He is the first UNI athlete to be featured on the cover. Of course students, and all Iowans alike are very proud of him.

Farokhmanesh and his team are now practicing for the game with Michigan State. Michigan State is just a one-point favorite against UNI in Friday's Midwest Regional semifinal. They know that little known UNI will make their job difficult.

Let's give a shout to Ali and his team mates. UNI team members have pushed themselves to the limit to get this far. Their goal is to be on top at the end of each game and finally to win that trophy at the end of the tournament. As anyone who's watched the games so far knows, it takes more than one guy to win the game. We also know that the game isn't won until the final tick of the clock. Go Farokhmanesh!

Credits:

The Des Moines Register
June Reed