The Shot

Sherron Collins drives strong to the hoop, puts in the lay-up. Kansas immediately calls timeout. 43 seconds left, one point game. The crowd is going bonkers. And I'm thinking, "Are you f****** kidding me???"

Northern Iowa had played 38 minutes of superb basketball. Had totally outplayed the overall number one seed in the tournament. Had led by seven -- SEVEN -- just 25 seconds ago. And now, a couple of bad turnovers later, the Panthers were on the verge of blowing it.

I thought back to Kansas-Bucknell in 2005, when Bucknell had led for almost the entire game before one of their players committed a stupid intentional foul that gave Kansas two shots and the ball, and ultimately, a one-point lead. But then Chris McNaughton, Bucknell's 6'11'' center from Germany, came to the rescue, hitting a baby hook that proved to be the game winner for the Bison and seal an upset of monumental proportions.

As the commercial break ended and Northern Iowa prepared to inbound the ball, I thought to myself, "Who's going to be the Panthers' McNaughton?" (Ok, I wasn't exactly thinking in that composed a manner; I was more yelling and cursing at the TV while pacing back and forth. But humor me.) There were still 43 seconds left on the clock; somebody from Northern Iowa was going to have to come up big and hit a shot.

What happened next is history. Freshman Jake Koch inbounds to senior brother Adam Koch, who passes it back to the younger Koch, who finds point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe, who throws it ahead to cold-blooded assassin Ali Faroukhmanesh. Faroukhmanesh pauses, surveys the scene, thinks, "What the hell," and launches what will undoubtedly go down as one of the clutchest shots in the history of the NCAA tournament. Nothing but net. One Kansas offensive foul later and Northern Iowa had essentially sealed one of the great upsets in tournament history, eliminating the team that many had picked to win it all.

In the three days since, The Shot has been endlessly talked about and analyzed. The conventional thinking is, "There's no way Faroukhmanesh should've taken that shot." There were 30 seconds left on the shot clock (37 in the game), UNI was up one, and Faroukhmanesh, after making his first three 3-pointers in the game, had missed his last seven shots. Conventional wisdom says he should've held the ball and either waited until Kansas fouled or worked the shot clock down and taken a shot with under 10 seconds remaining in the game.

I don't buy it, and I'm glad Faroukhmanesh didn't either. He's a shooter; he had to take that shot. As a so-called "shooter" myself (at least back in my high school days), I subscribe to the idea that shooters should keep shooting, even if they are in a cold streak. Eventually, they'll start falling again.

For the last couple of minutes, Northern Iowa had been playing scared. They were playing not to lose instead of to win. Somebody had to step up and make a play. That somebody was Ali Faroukhmanesh.

Because of him, the tournament's number one seed is one-and-done. And Northern Iowa is marching on.