This cache is named for the really tall Canadian basketball player Tanveer Bhullar. Tanveer and his brother Sim Bhullar have basketball scholarships at New Mexico State University, an upset-minded 13th seed in the NCAA men’s championship tournament.
The Bhullar brothers are more than big bodies who take up space in the paint, swat away a few shots and draw stares and photo requests everywhere they go. As their talents grow and their bodies become better-trained, the expectations mount on their towering frames.
Sim, 21, and Tanveer, 19, may be on track to become the first players of Indian descent to make it to the NBA – which could resonate dramatically in the South Asia nation of more than 1.2 billion.
Tanveer, 7-foot-3, is a red-shirt freshman this season, practising but not competing in order to preserve an extra year of college eligibility.
Aggies players have become used to people constantly stopping their two seven-foot-plus teammates in airports and restaurants, asking them to pose for photos as they marvel at the towering players, Sim wearing size 22 shoes, Tanveer size 19.
When the Bhullar family visited the Golden Temple in India a few years ago, a large group of curious people surrounded them to get an up-close look at the tall teens. Site security had to usher them into a private room and order a car to help them flee the crowd.