By Geoffrey Latayan
A Canadian basketball player, who went viral for cutting down the net without using the ladder, has cut his last net for the season after the Florida Gators won the 2025 NCAA Tournament, beating Houston 65-63 in the final.
Seven-foot-nine Olivier Rioux, currently the tallest player in the NCAA, walked to the basketball ring inside the Alamodome on Monday to get a chance to cut down the net to celebrate the Gators win.
It’s not the first time Rioux has cut down the net without the aid of the ladder this season. He did it in the SEC Tournament final when they won over Tennessee. He repeated this in the Final Four when they beat SEC groupmate Auburn and lastly in the national final.
He’s been subject to everyday talk in the college basketball scene, as it is rare to have a player that size to compete in the NCAA. Most of them go professional or find their fame elsewhere.
Rioux ‘redshirted’ for 2024-25 season
Florida courted Rioux in high school to play with the Gators in the NCAA, seeing his potential as a once-in-a-lifetime basketball asset. Months later, they signed him up for the team but decided to ‘redshirt’ him after deciding he wasn’t yet ready for full-contact competition.
‘Redshirting’ refers to a student-athlete who sits out a season of competition, allowing them to retain an extra year of eligibility.
Rioux agreed with the idea as this was an opportunity to put some muscle on his thin frame and to develop his skills as a competitive center next season.
If the training process goes well, Rioux will open the 2025-26 season as the tallest NCAA player in history.
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Gators end 2024-25 season as No. 1 team in AP Poll
Rioux’s Florida Gators ended up as the No. 1 team in the final Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the 2024-25 season after winning the national championship.
The Todd Golden-coached Gators (36-4) gained all 61 first-place votes from a panel of scribes who cover the US NCAA beat.
Florida clinched the program’s third national title and first since Billy Donovan’s repeat titles in 2006 and 2007. The win also lifted Florida to the top spot in the poll for the first time since the last four polls of the 2013-14 season.
Houston (35-5) remained at No. 2 after its first title-game appearance since 1984. The championship appearance capped a season that saw Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars reach the Final Four and beat the Cooper Flagg-led Duke (35-4) in the national semifinals with a stunning late comeback.
The Blue Devils were third while Auburn (32-6) finished fourth after falling to Florida in the Alamodome.
Tennessee was fifth and Alabama sixth, joining fellow Southeastern Conference groupmates Florida and Auburn. Michigan State was next at No. 7, followed by Texas Tech. Big Ten squads Maryland and Michigan rounded out the top 10.
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Jheruleene Anne Ramos 
Newsjustnews writers