Gigantic Canadian Rioux didn't need ladder to celebrate Florida's NCAA title

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For the second year in a row, a gigantic Canadian centre was in the spotlight as the NCAA’s March Madness concluded.

Unlike last year though, when Toronto’s Zach Edey had a great game but fell short in Purdue’s loss against Connecticut, Olivier Rioux got to celebrate an NCAA championship, though he didn’t play.

The redshirt freshman (meaning he couldn’t play this year and is preparing for next season) Rioux is a rare person that makes Edey, 7-foot-4, look small. Rioux, from the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne, is 7-foot-9. Yes, 7-foot-9. Which is why Rioux didn’t even need to use the ladder that is customarily provided to players and coaches to cut down the net after winning the title.

Rioux went viral for simply standing and cutting during his part of the ceremony, though he did need to stand on his tippy toes following Florida’s 65-63 comeback win over Houston.

“We’re still not 100% sure why I’m so tall — after investigation, doctors could only explain it with the genetics that my family has. My father is 6’8, my mom is 6’2, and my older brother is 6’9’… So we’re a pretty tall family,” Rioux told the Guinness World Book of Records after being named the world’s tallest teenager a few years ago.

Rioux’s Florida teammates credited him with helping them prepare to face opposing big men (as a redshirt he’s allowed to practice with the Gators, just not play) in the leadup to the Final Four. He told CBS that he learned how to deal with people gawking at him because of his height by watching how his father went about things.

“My model was my dad,” Rioux told CBS. “Whenever we were at the mall or whatever … everyone would come up to us and say, ‘Oh my God, how tall are you? Even your child is tall.’ But it was always respectful.”