Many University of Northern Iowa Panther basketball fans vividly remember March 20, 2010. The No. 1 seed and No. 1-ranked basketball powerhouse Kansas University Jayhawks were matched up against the No. 9 seeded and little-known Panthers of the Missouri Valley Conference in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

What transpired was one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history as the UNI Panthers shocked the world by knocking off the heavily-favored Kansas Jayhawks 69-67. While it was certainly a team victory where every player contributed, it was a last-minute three-point shot by Ali Farokhmanesh that ultimately sealed the victory for the purple and gold.

In an exclusive phone interview, the Northern Iowan got the latest information on Ali Farokhmanesh since his graduation from UNI.

NI: Are you still playing professional basketball in Switzerland?

Farokhmanesh: Right now I’m actually working on finding somewhere else to play and deciding where I want to play again next year. I most likely won’t be going back to Switzerland this next year.

NI: How was your experience playing basketball overseas?

Farokhmanesh: It was awesome. I had a great time. It was neat getting to learn a new culture and having to adapt to that. It was different learning how to live on my own. It’s a lot different living over in Europe as opposed to Cedar Falls. It was a great experience and something new.

NI: How different was your team’s style of play in Switzerland as opposed to UNI’s style of play?

Farokhmanesh: It was a little more up-tempo, but that’s partly because the shot clock is only 24 seconds over in Europe and that obviously speeds the game up a little bit more. We were a little more up tempo and there was less defense.

NI: What were your stats like? How many points were you averaging?

Farokhmanesh: I averaged over 20 points per game and four assists per game … It was a little bit of an increase from college.

NI: What was the most interesting or unique thing that you experienced overseas?

Farokhmanesh: The most unique thing was probably driving through the Alps, which was pretty amazing. We were up so high you could look down at the clouds; that was a cool experience. I went to Rome at the end of the year with one of my teammates and we spend about three days sightseeing ,and that was an awesome experience as well.

NI: During your senior year on campus, Adam Koch, Jake Koch and you were mentioned in Sports Illustrated for your famous movie board where you ranked various movies that you guys had watched together. Do you still keep in touch with them and recommend movies to one another?

Farokhmanesh: We still keep in touch and every once in a while we will recommend movies to one another. We still love watching movies, but it’s hard to keep the movie board going when Jake is in Cedar Falls, Adam is in Green Bay right now and I’m currently in Las Vegas.

NI: During your senior year, did the basketball team feel like they could matchup well with Kansas or any other team in the 2010 NCAA Tournament?

Farokhmanesh: We definitely had a lot of confidence going into the tournament and we had had a really great season up to that point, so yeah, we were very confident in one another and in the coaching staff. We were excited to be in the tournament again and that we had a chance to redeem ourselves from the year before when we lost to Purdue. We just wanted to do some damage in the tournament that year.

NI: What was going through your mind when you took that three-pointer that clinched the game against Kansas?

Farokhmanesh: Nothing, really. It was just a natural reaction for me. It’s just like anything that you do: once you do it so many times it just becomes routine. I was wide open when I got the ball so it felt natural for me to just shoot it.

NI: Growing up as a kid, did you dream of hitting a shot like that in a situation like that?

Farokhmanesh: Definitely. Growing up and watching basketball and being around basketball my whole life, it’s definitely something that you dream of. As a kid you go out on the playground and count down the clock in your head before you take the last-second three-pointer. It was kind of like a dream come true.

NI: Is there anything you didn’t get accomplished in your time at UNI that you wish you could go back and change?

Farokhmanesh: Not really. I had a blast at UNI. I graduated, I got to go to the Sweet 16 and I met a lot of amazing people along the way, most of whom I still keep in contact with. I don’t really want to change a lot. I still think about the Michigan State game a lot, but that would probably be about it.12