Olivier Rioux is officially listed on the University of Florida roster as the tallest college basketball player of all-time! He is only a freshman.
Other players — who are not small — look minuscule when standing next to their new teammate.
Rioux is the Guinness World Record holder for tallest teenager and has long been a force to reckon with in the paint. According to the Gators’ roster, the Montréal-native was 6-foot-1 at the young age of just eight years old, 6-foot-11 by sixth grade and crossed the 7-foot mark before the seventh grade.
He is listed today at 7-foot-9, 290 pounds. It’s not hard to pick him out of a crowd.
If the roster height is accurate (it is often slightly embellished), Rioux joins former Chinese Basketball Association star (and Rush Hour 3 actor) Sun Mingming as the tallest basketball players in history. Former NBA center Gheorghe Mureşan is 7-foot-7. Manute Bol is 7-foot-6. As are/were a few others.
Florida added Rueben Chinyelu through the transfer portal during the offseason. The former Washington State center was listed at 6-foot-11. Rioux manages to make him look small.
Sophomore guard Cooper Josefsberg is 6-foot-4. That isn’t short! Rioux dwarfs him.
Olivier Rioux is still growing!
Only a three-star recruit who committed to the program as a preferred walk-on, Rioux still has a lot of room for growth. Perhaps not literally, but let’s also not rule that out. The coaching staff down in Gainesville will have to mold him into a more well-rounded basketball player.
With that being said, he went to work against a large number of Division-I commits during a Canadian All-Star game earlier this summer. They simply did not have an answer for Rioux.
Most teams do not!
Rioux is likely going to take a redshirt year as a freshman unless he is too impressive during the preseason to keep him off of the court. Having a full year to transition from high school to college will serve him will!