Have You Seen This? 7-foot-9 Florida center doesn't need ladder to cut championship net

ABOVE THE NET — The college basketball tradition of cutting down the championship net goes back decades, but there's usually a prop included every time.

Florida's 7-foot-9 center, Olivier Rioux, didn't need the ladder like everyone else, though, using his 8-foot wingspan to calmly grab the scissors from the top of the ladder and cut off his piece of the net following the Gators' 65-63 NCAA championship win over Houston on Monday in San Antonio.

The Quebec, Canada, native redshirted his freshman year in Gainesville after attending IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Rioux already measured 6-foot-10 at the age of 12, and Guinness World Records declared him the tallest teenager in the world in 2021 when he measured 7-foot-5 at 15 years old.

If Rioux played in the NBA, he would be the tallest player in league history by two inches, topping the 7-foot-7 Manute Bol and Utah's own 7-foot-6 Shawn Bradley.

Related topics