Ali Farokhmanesh Just Aged a Generation of College Basketball Fans

March Madness creates moments and names that live in college basketball lore forever. You hear one name and you remember exactly where you were for that shot, that incredible moment. The feelings are so familiar, it feels just like they happened yesterday.

T.J. Sorrentine hit one from the parking lot in Vermont’s 2005 upset of Syracuse. A few years later, Ty Rogers was textbook for Western Kentucky at the buzzer. Bryce Drew‘s heroics will never die. There’s another name from a mid-major Cinderella that stands out above the rest, Ali Farokhmanesh.

Very few have brought onions to the big dance in the way that Ali Farokhmanesh did for Northern Iowa. The No. 9 seed had top-ranked Kansas on the ropes, but the Jayhawks were on the verge of completing a comeback in the final minutes.

Northern Iowa led by 1-point with just over 40 seconds remaining. Kansas applied pressure with a fullcourt press. The general public thought Northern Iowa would eat up clock before giving Kansas the ball back, potentially with a chance to win. Ali Farokhmanesh didn’t want to give them a chance.

Northern Iowa broke the press. Instead of dribbling out the clock, Farokhmanesh delivered a dagger from behind the three-point line, his fourth of the game. “You can’t be serious with that shot?!?!”

Ali Farokhmanesh is a March Madness legend. Now he’s the head coach at Colorado State.

I know what you’re thinking to yourself, “That guy can’t be a college basketball head coach in the Mountain West. He was just playing college basketball not that long ago.” That was 15 years ago. FIFTEEN years ago.

The Ali Farokhmanesh March Madness moment was so long ago, you couldn’t even watch every game on TV. That was the era of the “live look-in,” when CBS was the exclusive broadcaster of the NCAA Tournament. It took another year for us to get every game of March Madness on four channels.

Yes, you are that old. You remember Ali Farokhmanesh onions from the days when they only showed one game on the TV. Now, that same guy is leading a team that pulled off a 12-5 upset in the NCAA Tournament.

“Known for taking big shots, he will now call them. Ali Farokhmanesh will become the 21^st head coach in Colorado State men’s basketball history,” is how Colorado State introduced its new head coach. He replaces Niko Medved after spending seven seasons as an assistant in Fort Collins.

Best of luck to Mr. Farokhmanesh, and thanks for reminding me that I’m old and washed. Can’t wait to blink and see Jack Gohlke taunting Kentucky from another team’s sideline.