OK, so let's be honest: when I found out I landed an interview with the LEGEND Ali Farokhmanesh, I got excited. I remember watching No. 9 seeded UNI taking on No. 1 seeded Kansas in the 2010 NCAA tournament and WINNING, surpassing the Jayhawks to go to the Sweet Sixteen. That day the Panthers became legends.

Farokhmanesh, who filled the No. 5 jersey on the 2010 UNI team, is most recognized for the three point shot he took with 35 seconds left in the UNI v. Kansas game. At the time it may have been a silly move in the eyes of sports analysts, but that shot gave UNI enough momentum to finish the battle and come out on top.

The 2009-10 season saw the Panthers at yet another Missouri Valley Conference tournament, this time locked in the championship against Wichita State. It was the No. 1 seed (UNI) against the No. 2 seed (Wichita State) and the Panthers came out on top with a win 67- 52 over the Shockers. Farokhmanesh said, “It was great to win Arch Madness and know that we were going to be in March Madness. It was great experience and something I will never forget.” But the excitement was tainted with slight disappointment. “Being ranked as a number 9 seed was disappointing because we thought we were deserving of a higher seed than that.”

That year, the NCAA Selection Committee put the Panthers in the Midwest region, with an interesting path to take in order to get to the finals. Despite this, the Panthers managed to fight their way to the Sweet Sixteen. To get there they had to take down UNLV and Kansas.

“We were excited for the opportunity to play UNLV in the first round with the chance to play the number 1 team in the country in the second round. We thought we had a good chance of advancing, but knew that it would be a difficult task with the teams that we were going to have to face,” said Farokhmanesh.

Taking on the number one team in the country sounds like a daunting task, but it didn’t change the Panthers’ mindset. To Farokhmanesh it was another opportunity to show off the program that is UNI basketball. Farokhmanesh said, “I don’t think it was anything different that motivated our team. It was another game and an opportunity to beat a great team. We came in to the game very confident and believed that we had a chance to win the game from the start.”

Farokhmanesh’s favorite part of the tournament was getting to celebrate with the team after the win against Kansas.

Taking down number one seems to have been no problem for UNI, which has earned the nickname the “University of Nothing Impossible,” with wins over No. 1 Kansas in 2010 and No. 1 North Carolina in 2015. But don’t been too quick to call UNI a Cinderella team. Farokhmanesh said, “I don’t know if we were your typical Cinderella team. We weren’t a household name, we didn’t have a bunch of NBA players, so I guess you could call it a Cinderella type of game but we were 28-4 heading into March Madness and had been ranked in the top 25 for most of the second half of the year.”

Not quite reaching their original goal, the Panthers still managed to get farther that most of the nation expected. Farokhmanesh said, “We had some pretty lofty goals. The start of the season we said that we wanted to reach the Final Four. We fell a little short of that goal, but we had a great run!”

The Panthers ended their season and 2010 NCAA tournament run with a loss to Michigan State 52 to 59 in the Sweet Sixteen round. At the end of the day they had an impressive 30-5 season record and won an ESPY for Best Upset.

Playing three games in the March Madness tournament, Farokhmanesh’s takeaway from the experience highlights the importance of hard work and believing in one’s self.

“I think the biggest lesson I learned was that you can accomplish anything through self-belief and hard work," he said. "We were a bunch of guys that had strong beliefs in one another and also worked extremely hard.”

Though he won’t be able to cheer on the Panthers in person due to a family engagement, he will be watching this year’s Panthers as they take on Texas in the first round. His parting advice to this year’s team is this, “Enjoy the moment, believe in your team and the system!”

With nothing that he would do differently in his own March Madness experience, Farokhmanesh said, “It was a great experience. There is nothing like March Madness.”

In a sense, Farokhmanesh "returned" to the March Madness tournament in 2015 to ask Kansas fans if they remember the 2010 UNI vs. Kansas game.

After UNI Farokhmanesh played for SAM Massagno Basket in Switzerland, WBC Raiffeisen Wels in Austria, and SPM Shoeters Den Bosch in the Netherlands before becoming the graduate manager for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2014.

And, if you missed the 2010 UNI vs. Kansas game or want to relive it, it can be found on YouTube.