GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During one of the first summer pickup sessions of the Florida basketball offseason, former Gators guard Myreon Jones came to the sidelines after a game and spoke with other players about the awareness needed when driving the basket against 7-footers. The observation was hardly breaking news, but Jones added a caveat to make his point.
"He's like eight feet," Jones said, motioning across the gym.
UF freshman
Olivier Rioux, actually, stands 7-foot-8. Yes, that puts him closer to 8 feet than 7. In fact, Rioux is officially listed on the Gators' 2024-25 roster at 7-9, as NCAA guidelines allow for height in shoes. According to the "Guinness Book of World Records," Rioux is the tallest teenager in the world and is believed to be the tallest player ever to play basketball at any level.
So stand down, Manute Bol, George Muresan, Tako Fall, et al. The Gators have the biggest big
ever. That said, stand down Gator Nation – and scale down – any sort of wild expectations for this young and truly unique prospect. The UF coaching staff certainly is doing that. To his credit, so is Rioux, who bypassed scholarship offers from a handful of mid-major programs to come to UF as a walk-on, but also a Division I project with the proper perspective.
"The situation here is just very specific to me," Rioux said.
That's a fact, but it won't change the amount of eyeballs (wide ones) that will gaze agape when the Gators take the floor this season; even if Rioux is seated on the Florida bench and towering over 7-1 teammate
Micah Handlogten.
Olivier Rioux (left) bodies up against fellow newcomer Sam Alexis, who is 6-10, during a pickup game.
"The reality of Olivier's situation is that he does have great potential and he does have very good tools, but it's going to take time for them to all come together," UF coach
Todd Golden said of the tallest Gator since 7-2 standout center Dwayne Schintzius roamed the paint from 1986-89. "We look at him as a long-term investment, where if he continues to buy into our program and our coaches and our system that he will continue to develop into a player who can help us consistently. He's not there yet and it might take him a while, but he's definitely one of the most unique players in America."
In the world, actually. Olivier (pronounced like legendary actor Lawrence Olivier), or "Oli" per his coaches and teammates, is not just tall, he's sturdy at a solid and proportional 290 pounds. He's also pretty flexible for his size, according to strength/conditioning coordinator
Victor Lopez. Rioux only turned 18 in February, so who knows where his body is headed?
In the meantime, the UF coaching staff's No. 1 goal for Rioux, the Montreal native by way of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, is to get him in the best physical, mental and developmental position possible, with the physical element at the forefront of the plan.
"They are emphasizing cardio, which isn't the best for me right now," Rioux said. "But we're working out, working on things. We're trying, but need more."
A lot more.
"My expectations for Olivier are to get him in the best shape of his life, and that's going to take some time," said UF associate head coach
Carlin Hartman, who coaches the team's front court players. "He's never been pushed to this point in his basketball journey, so his best chance to have success is if he gets in fantastic shape and learns how to run and change directions, whether that's offense-to-defense or defense-to-offense. Just being able to transition back and forth, up and down the court."
UF coach Todd Golden (left) tutors Olivier Rioux during a summer workout.
His basketball journey began in Canada at the age of five (and the height of 5-2) and, yes, he was the biggest kid on the floor then, also. His father, Jean-Francois, is 6-8, mother Anne Gariepy 6-2 and older brother Emile 6-9, so imagine the looks at family outings.
"Like when we go to the mall, people come up to us, yes," Rioux said. "Sometimes it's uncomfortable, sometimes you embrace it, but sometimes you want to just say, you know, 'Have a nice day' and go on."
It's been going on like that for a while. Rioux hit seven feet at the age of 12, so it should come as no surprise that the development of motor skills did not keep pace with his body.
As the saying goes, though, you can't teach height, so Rioux's basketball services were always going to be in demand. He played sparingly during his time at IMG, one of the best boutique programs in the country, but some of his best on-court experience came playing with Canadian national teams, including most recently at the FIBA AmeriCup U18 competition this summer in Argentina. In that tournament, he averaged 4.5 points and 4.5 rebounds (with highs of 10 points against Venezuela and nine boards against Puerto Rico) in helping guide his team to a bronze medal.
After that, Rioux officially enrolled at UF, a place he chose to walk on (over scholarship opportunities at Morehead State, UC-Irvine and a few others) because of its academic reputation, high level of basketball and the plan set forth by the coaching staff.
Golden has a track record for building around and playing through "bigs," so the match just made sense.
"They told me they would work with me and make me better," said Rioux, whose individual training includes basic Mikan drills, but also a bevy of low-post routines that emphasize footwork, strong hands, finishing with power and (as mentioned) cardio. "They believe if I do the work the next couple of years I could play here."
How hard he works could impact that timetable. Rioux admittedly has had some good days and some bad so far, but Golden has not ruled out his biggest of big men possibly contributing to the team in 2024-25.
"You never know," Golden said. "But he's going to have to beat some of these guys out and that's going to easier said than done."
Rioux is one of three first-year UF bigs on campus, along with wildly athletic 6-11 forward
Rueben Chinyelu (transfer from Washington State) and 6-10
Sam Alexis (Tennessee-Chattanooga), both of whom are expected to play high minutes in the rotation, along with two returning sophomores in 6-11
Alex Condon and 6-10
Thomas Haugh coming off terrific rookie collegiate seasons. Viktor Mikic, a 6-11, 235-pound center from Serbia, was recently signed and joined the fold this week. That's six bigs ahead of him.
In pickup games, Rioux has had his hands full (especially dealing with Chinyelu), but it's all part of that journey Hartman referenced.
"He's just like any other college freshman in that he doesn't know what it's like to go through a college practice or what it's like to be away from home or what it's like to wake up in the morning, go lift [weights], then go to class for three hours, then come back to practice and deal with experienced D1 guys who are trying to earn their spot – and do all those things while being 7-8," Hartman said. "No one in the world has ever had to do that, so if I'm the public, I'm tempering my expectations of what he could be on the court in '24-25 and allow this young man to be coached and developed and be as normal an 18-year-old kid as he could be, given his situation."
