St. Francis hits the lottery as 7-foot-3 Millogo arrives

Golden Knights’ new basketball player hails from tiny Burkina Faso in West Africa.

- Eric Sondheimer

CHERIF MILLOGO is so tall that he can stand under a basket and touch the rim.

Wearing size 17 shoes and standing 7 feet 3, Cherif Millogo is under the basket holding up his arms and touching the rim without leaving the ground. The rest of the "tiny" people in the St. Francis High gym are gawking in awe at his 7-9 wingspan.

That includes 6-8 head coach Todd Wolfson, who has twice won the basketball coaching lottery by having his second 7-footer show up out of nowhere. The first was 7-0 Belgium exchange student Gilles Dierickx when he was coaching at Chaminade in 2017.

This time, Wolfson received a phone call from an administrator at St. Francis in August.

“There's a 7-3 kid wanting to come to St. Francis,” the administrator said.

“I thought he was lying,” Wolfson said.