It's March 20th, 2010. We're in Oklahoma City
for the second round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament
, and what is going on here? As the
clock ticks below 40 seconds, tournament favorite Kansas is
down 1 point against the 9 seed University of Northern
Iowa, not even regular Iowa. UNI has the
ball, and like, where is everyone? This
is all mystifying. We need to rewind. This
video is presented by Sam Adams American Light, the
most premium light beer. Upsets are in the air
this weekend. Already today, number 10 St.
Mary's took down 2 seeded Villanova, and 11 seed
Washington is crushing 3 seed New Mexico. But if
this score holds, that would be something else entirely
upset wise. This number one understates just how favored
Kansas was tonight and in this whole tournament. Kansas
won it all just two years ago. They sent
a huge chunk of that team to the 08 NBA
draft, which left the Jayhawks in a bit of
a rebuilding spot last season. Kansas got upset in
the Big 12 conference tournament and fell well short of
defending their national title. The rebuilding gap year paid
off though, because good lord, are they stacked
now. At least 2 Jayhawks, Sharon Collins and
Cole Aldrich, could have been NBA draft picks last
summer, but both decided to come back to school
. Kansas retained some terrific rising sophomores, Tyshawn Taylor
and the Morris Twins, Markieff and Marcus, and
they added multiple top recruits while a promising transfer became
eligible. This is a ridiculously talented basketball team now
and for the foreseeable future right up there with the
8 champions, and all the preseason discourse reflected that
. Kansas received a near unanimous number one ranking.
They were the team to beat according to ESPN.
A few months later with the 32-2 record and breezy
conference tournament win in their wake, the Jayhawks earned
the number one overall seed in March Madness. Betting
odds painted them as the clear favorite to win it
all again. They remain the team to beat.
And uh well, they look like a team very
much at risk of getting beat right now. Actually
, the fact that they're only down 1 point represents
a massive momentum shift toward Kansas. Understanding that shift
will help us understand why it looks like there's no
one on the court right now. Wind the tape
back a few frames and you'll see Kansas very nearly
stealing this pass with super aggressive backcourt defense. That
is a recent development and a twist away from this
game's original story. To the extent that anyone bothered
to scout the University of Northern Iowa before this tournament
, here's what they found. Head coach Ben Jacobson
runs a very slow, very scripted offense. Often
that offense funnels toward the middle. 71, 280
pound All-Conference center Jordan Egelseer, big old Iowan fellow
. Egleceder's prominence gave this game against Kansas an obvious
headline matchup, the Battle of the Bigs Egleseer versus
All-American Kansas center Cole Aldrich. Those two actually faced
off years ago, though only one of them claims
to remember it. Anyway, that matchup defined the
first half. In favor of UNI. Aldrich was
the only thing Kansas had going offensively as the Jayhawk
guards struggled severely against a UNI defense packing the paint
. Eggo Cedar surprised the Jayhawks by stepping out and
hitting a couple 3s. Northern Iowa led by 8
at half and held their ground to open the second
half, but Then a fascinating turn of events with
like 9 minutes to go and Kansas still down 9
points. Aldrich went up for a rebound and came
down awkwardly. You could hear his pained holler on
the broadcast. Aldrich tries to save it. Aldrich
had to sit. Kansas had to play small,
and you and I felt compelled to bench Eggleseeder in
response, except for a very brief stretch of Aldrich
testing his injured foot, The Star centers have sat
almost the entire last 9 minutes, totally shifting the
style of play. Kansas had already begun a desperate
full court press before Aldrich got hurt, but once
he sat, they really ramped it up. Almost
immediately, Kansas went on a run, forcing tons
of panicked backcourt turnovers and finishing around the basket to
all but erase that UNI lead. These last 9
minutes had all the trappings of that typical tournament game
where a Cinderella threatens a historic upset only for the
better, more mature team to right the ship and
evade disaster before it's too late. It could still
end that way. But this time, just the
once, just now, those pressing Jayhawks couldn't make
the backcourt steal. You and I escaped the trap
, leaving one guy basically alone to run some clock
and leave Kansas as little time as possible. But
is he actually going to run clock? Is he
, he's not going to shoot, is he?
Who is this kid? OK, I'm not gonna
make you sit through the rabbit hole I went down
studying 20th century Iranian history, but I want you
to know I did that research because it does apply
to this moment. Look over here in the crowd
. This wonderfully mustachioed man is Dr. Mashalah FarrokMesh
. People call him Farro. He is a prominent
figure in Iranian volleyball, both playing and coaching.
In the late 1970s, Farook emigrated from Iran to
the United States to get postgraduate degrees in physical education
. While Iran went through its revolution of 1979,
Farro stayed in the US to coach volleyball, and
I believe he just missed being teammates with Wilt Chamberlain
on a pro volleyball team. Anyway, in the
early 80s, Farro met coach Cindy Frederick at a
volleyball camp in Iowa, then became her husband and
her assistant as she broke into the D1 coaching ranks
, first at Weaver State in Utah, then at
Washington State. Their son Ali, born in 1988
, preferred basketball to volleyball. When the family moved
back to Iowa, he distinguished himself as one of
the best high school players in the state. Unfortunately
, college coaches didn't see high level potential in a
5'11 guard who wasn't even very quick. That includes
his current coach, and that includes the coach at
the University of Iowa where his mom worked. Family
ties couldn't even get him a walk-on spot, not
interested. So Ali Faru Munesh kept playing ball in
community college, and he flourished. As a sophomore
. His point guard skills and unbelievable accuracy from downtown
earned him recognition as one of the best juco players
in the nation, with some absurd shooting numbers.
That is when the D1 offers rolled in. The
UNIPanthers, regretting their prior assessment and beset by backcourt
injuries, brought Farrok Mannesh on as a transfer last
season. Immediately, Ferromane became UNI's starting point guard
, and immediately he became one of the highest volume
3 point shooters in the Missouri Valley Conference. And
things have gone well for the Panthers. Last year
they won the MVC and made their first big dance
of coach Ben Jacobson's tenure. This year, they
did it all again, and more. Some important
context here before we go further. Before this week
, you and I had won exactly one NCAA tournament
game. It was back in 1990 when Maurice Newby
hit this legendary, highly contested buzzer beater to complete
a 14/3 upset against Mizzou. to get inside.
Oh. By the way, for the real sickos
out there, somewhere on this ecstatic bench is Nick
Nurse, a former sharpshooting UNI star just like Ali
, who went on to become a Panthers assistant and
currently coaches the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League.
And more context, you and I entered this 2010
tournament, a 9 seed, their highest seeding ever
, but they actually took that as a slate.
They think they're better than that and may have been
ranked accordingly if they didn't play a chunk of their
schedule without Egleseer and suffer some rough late season losses
. Either way, they got themselves around one matchup
against UNLV. Farro Monesh came out firing, which
is what he does. Don't let UNI's slow pace
and long playbook fool you. Coach Jacobson gives these
guys a green light, and Ali uses it more
than anyone. Farook Mune took 9 3s against UNLV
, the last of which was this heavily contested game
winner in the clutch. This was like exactly the
same spot as Maurice Ny's game winner 20 years earlier
, almost to the day. For a while today
looks different. You and I has led most of
the game, yes, but not because of Ali
. For the 1st 10 plus minutes of this game
, Feru Munesh didn't even take a shot. Then
, beginning with this deep bomb, he rattled off
a torrent of jumpers and then he went silent again
while Kansas trapped their way back into contention. At
the moment, Ferro Monash is 3 for 9 from
downtown. He has been bowled for parts of this
game, but not consistently so, especially since the
Kansas press jacked up you and I's game plan.
But right now, the ball is in his hands
. Ali gets to decide whether to run clock for
the best and latest possible shot or to exploit that
perpetual green light and shoot for the upset clinching dagger
right here, right now, orthodoxy be damned.
So many things had to fall into place to make
this moment possible for Ali, beginning with the unique
familial history that brought him into existence and then to
the state of Iowa. The mighty Kansas Jayhawks faced
a huge deficit but came roaring back after their star
center went down with an injury. With a stop
and a bucket, they could avoid the upset and
they just missed getting that stop mere seconds ago.
The underdog UNI Panthers have already pushed boundaries by even
advancing this far. Hold this lead and they'll make
the first Sweet 16 in team history. In fact
, it would be the first Sweet 16 for the
whole Missouri Valley Conference since Larry Bird's Indiana State sycamores
reached the tournament final in 1979. So what's it
going to be, Ali? It's all on you
right now. All that narrative sits on your shoulders
. Are you going to play it safe or are
you going to let it fly? Welcome to a
moment in history. For Monash. That will be
the dagger, especially with this charge to deny a
Kansas response, but let's watch Ali finish it off
at the line. Isn't this something? 0.4 they
do. On the first day of spring, number
one has fallen. Thanks for watching this episode of
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