Houston has never won a men’s basketball national championship.
But LJ Cryer has.
A fifth-year senior for the Cougars, Cryer was a freshman on Baylor’s national championship team in 2021. He played his first three seasons for the Bears before transferring to Houston ahead of the 2023-24 season.
After averaging 15.5 points last season and leading Houston to the Big 12 championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Cryer is being recognized as one of the top returning college basketball players in the country.
Earlier this month Cryer was named preseason All-Big 12 First Team along with teammate J’Wan Roberts. Then on Thursday, CBS Sports released their “Top 100 and 1” best players in the country – and Cryer came in at No. 16.
Here’w what CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish wrote about Cryer:
“Cryer began his college career at Baylor, where he played a small role on Scott Drew’s national championship-winning team in 2021 before developing into a double-digit scorer the following season. As a junior, he averaged 15.0 points for Baylor and then transferred to Houston and emerged as the leading scorer on a squad that won the Big 12 by two games and secured a No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Now, Cryer is back for a fifth season of college basketball after averaging 15.5 points as a senior. He also shot 38.8% from 3-point range last season. And his return — along with the continuing presence of future Hall of Fame coach Kelvin Sampson, of course — is the main reason Houston is ranked in the top five of the preseason AP Top 25 poll for the third straight October. “
Cryer was the ninth guard listed, behind Alabama’s Mark Sears (No. 1), North Carolina’s RJ Davis (No. 2), Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis (No. 8), Purdue’s Braden Smith (No. 9), Marquette’s Kam Jones (No. 10), Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV (No. 12), Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey (No. 13) and St. John’s Kadary Richmond (No. 15).
Two more Houston players made the list: J’Wan Roberts at No. 55 and Emanuel Sharp at No. 80. Roberts averaged 9.5 points and 6.8 rebounds last season and Sharp averaged 12.6 points.
