What Melvin Council Jr. values about his Kansas basketball experience
SAN DIEGO, California — Over the course of his senior season with Kansas basketball, Melvin Council Jr. became a fan favorite.
There was his emergence as a key starter for the team, especially during the time freshman star Darryn Peterson was unavailable due to various health reasons. There was his dog mentality that led fans inside Allen Fieldhouse to bark in an effort to show their appreciation for him. There are transfers who spend a stint of their college careers with a program, and there are those who are going to be remembered for that time, and he’s the latter.
But with this past Sunday came a loss in the men’s NCAA tournament against St. John’s in San Diego, California, and with it the end of the Kansas season. Council, who has left the possibility open that he could try for another year of eligibility, might very well be on the path to his professional career now. And when asked about what he’ll take away from the season, and being able to wear the KU uniform, he pointed to something that happened before the season even began.
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“Boot camp,” said Council, referring to the preseason training Kansas does. “Started in the summertime. Dealt with the guys early morning, working out and just being around them a lot.”
Council started all 35 of his games for Kansas (24-11) and played more minutes than anyone else on the roster. The transfer from St. Bonaventure, who worked his way up at different stops through the college ranks, averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. He led the team in assists and steals by season’s end, and while he finished the season shooting 30.8% from behind the arc, he did do enough to at least be considered a threat from there if he got going — just ask North Carolina State.
Council didn’t shoot well at all in the postseason, and it hurt his production, but Kansas doesn’t make its comeback attempt in the second half against St. John’s without him. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough to keep what seemed like a dream season for Council at times, as a part of one of the storied programs in the sport. And yet that fan favorite description will remain, as will the moment during his senior day speech when he kissed the Jayhawk logo at center court.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: What Melvin Council Jr. values about his Kansas basketball experience
