Ali Farokhmanesh recites the words that changed his life.
"There's always room for a shooter," he says.
He pauses.
"That always stuck in my head."
If not for those words — and the 3-point shot — he wouldn't have become a basketball player at Northern Iowa. He wouldn't have come to Oklahoma City six years ago this month. He wouldn't have hit one of the most memorable shots the NCAA Tournament has ever seen.
Farokhmanesh nailed the three that beat top-seeded Kansas and eliminated a team featuring five future NBA Draft picks on the first weekend of the 2010 tournament.