One of the potential darlings in this NCAA Tournament was Colorado State basketball, and the Rams certainly had the most tragic ending of any of the Cinderella candidates. Despite knocking off fifth-seed Memphis and leading for most of the second round against No. 4 seed Maryland, an incredible buzzer-beater by freshman Derik Queen sent the Rams home on the first weekend.

Just a day after the loss, reports surfaced that Medved was leaving Colorado State to become the new head coach at Minnesota, his alma mater. While this was certainly a bummer for Rams fans, there was always an obvious successor in place. Now, the short-lived search is officially over.

On Wednesday, Colorado State officially promoted assistant coach Ali Farokhmanesh to be the new head coach in Fort Collins, according to Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated.

“Colorado State is hiring associate head coach Ali Farokhmanesh to replace Niko Medved, source tells @SInow,” Sweeney reported on X, formerly Twitter. “CSU did a short search, but this was a no-brainer. Farokhmanesh has been essential to the Rams' success under Medved and is one of the best young assistants in the sport.”

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Farokhmanesh has been an assistant under Medved dating all the way back to the pair's time at Drake in 2017-18. They went to Colorado State together and have had a lot of success with the Rams since, including three NCAA Tournament appearances in the last four years.

Of course, the Big Dance showings at Colorado State won't be the NCAA Tournament that most fans will remember Farokhmanesh for. He became a March Madness legend as a player at Northern Iowa in 2010, when he hit a game-winner in the first round and then drained a 3-pointer to seal a massive upset win over top-seed Kansas in the Round of 32.

Farokhmanesh has been one of the best assistant coaches in the country for many years now, and it was widely assumed that he would be the successor to Medved if the Minnesota native ever left town. Now, that has become a reality, and Farokhmanesh will have a chance to keep the good times rolling with Colorado State basketball.