LAWRENCE — After the speculation about whether former Kansas basketball standout Melvin Council Jr. would seek another year of eligibility at the Division I level in college, Council is going through the legal system to get it.
According to Douglas County court records from July, Council is the plaintiff in a case against the NCAA and Josh Whitman in the state of Kansas. Whitman, a defendant alongside the NCAA, is described in the petition as being in his official capacity as chair of the NCAA Division I cabinet. The petition is for damages and injunctive relief against those parties.
The bid for another year of eligibility addresses how the NCAA handles the eligibility of athletes who’ve spent time at the junior college level, as Council did before moving up to Division I at Wagner, then St. Bonaventure, and then Kansas. It also addresses how not allowing Council to participate in another season of Division I basketball would keep him from potentially making millions of dollars through NIL, and hinder his ability to get selected in a future NBA draft. He is seeking the chance to play one more year of Division I basketball, and KU coach Bill Self has reacted to this news.
“We’re aware of Melvin’s legal efforts to pursue an additional year of Division I eligibility, similar to what a number of student-athletes across the country are doing,” Self said in a statement. “At this point, we’re simply monitoring the process and allowing it to play out.”
According to the petition, Council had submitted a waiver request to the NCAA through KU’s compliance office in May this year. Later that month, the request was effectively denied. The petition takes issue with that as well.
If this is permitted, Council — who spent time in the NBA summer league this year with the New Orleans Pelicans — would be eligible to play for a school in the 2026-27 season. During the 2025-26 season, he helped the Jayhawks to the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament and the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament. He averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game across 35 starts and was named the Big 12’s newcomer of the year as a senior guard.
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: Bill Self reacts to Melvin Council Jr.’s pursuit of more eligibility
