Has a college basketball player won titles with two different schools?

David Schneidman Published: Apr 07 2025 19:35

Houston guard L.J. Cryer has a chance to do something on Monday night that no Division I men’s or women’s basketball player has done in the history of March Madness.

If Houston defeats Florida in the men’s national championship game on Monday night, Cryer will become the only player ever to win two Division I national championships with two different schools.

In 86 years of the men’s tournament and 43 years of the women’s tournament, no player has ever accomplished the feat.

Back in 2021, Cryer was a member of the title-winning Baylor Bears, albeit as a bench piece, before joining Houston and leading the Cougars to a national title appearance this season.

The fifth-year senior was Houston’s standout performer against Duke on Saturday, a thrilling come-from-behind win that saw the Cougars erase a six point deficit in the final 30 seconds to eliminate the tournament favorites. Cryer scored 26 points with six threes in the victory.

In five games in the 2025 tournament, Cryer is averaging 18.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3.4 APG on 45.2% 3P.

With Baylor, Cryer saw little game time, logging just eight total minutes during the Bears’ 2021 tournament run in which they won every game by nine points or more. Then, he was behind future NBA players Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell in the pecking order.

His role increased over the next two seasons and as a junior he became a starter averaging 15 PPG. With the NCAA’s relaxed transfer rules, Cryer moved from Baylor to Houston ahead of the 2023/24 season.

If Houston wins on Monday night, Cryer could be the first of many to win titles at two different schools thanks to the NCAA’s relaxed transfer policy, enacted in April 2024. The new policy allows transfers to be eligible to play for their new school immediately, when previously they were required to sit out a year unless they met certain requirements. There is also no limit on the number of times an athlete can transfer schools.

With the massive influx in transfers in the last few years alone, will we see more players competing for national titles at more than one school?