LAWRENCE, Kan. (KCTV) – One of the most beloved players on last year’s Kansas basketball team is making an effort to continue his college basketball career.
Melvin Council Jr., a 6-foot-4 guard who played 35 games for the University of Kansas last season, filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Douglas County, Kansas, on July 23, seeking injunctive relief against the National Collegiate Athletic Association and NCAA Division I chair Josh Whitman.
The lawsuit seeks to “remedy immediate and irreparable harm caused by the NCAA’s unreasonable enforcement of its arbitrary eligibility restrictions against (Council).” Whitman is the athletic director at the University of Illinois, but is named in the lawsuit because of his role as the chair of the Division I committee, which serves as Division I’s primary legislative authority.
Council, who played a year at Wagner College in 2023-24 and a year at St. Bonaventure in 2024-25, has played three seasons of Division I college basketball following two years in junior college.
In his lawsuit, Council alleges that he played junior college basketball at Monroe Community College in western New York not by choice, but rather because of extenuating legal circumstances he faced at the end of his time in high school.
“Prior to his high school graduation in June 2020, Mr. Council was charged in connection with first and third-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse,” the lawsuit says. “Although the charges were later dismissed, they created substantial and immediate uncertainty regarding his immediate potential criminal exposure, eligibility clearance, and ability to travel and participate in NCAA Division I athletics.”
Kansas guard Melvin Council Jr. (14) is hugged by Kansas head coach Bill Self, right, as they celebrate after their team’s upset over Arizona in an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)(Colin E. Braley | AP)
The lawsuit claims those criminal charges resulted in Council enrolling at Monroe Community College, with the criminal charges eventually being dismissed before he transferred to Wagner to begin his Division I career.
The lawsuit comes as the NCAA has announced plans to institute a new age-based eligibility model for Division I athletics, allowing players five seasons of eligibility beginning at the end of their high school career or from the time they turn 19. The new eligibility rules were not planned to be grandfathered in this season, which has led to several other players submitting lawsuits to play a fifth season of Division I basketball.
Council’s lawsuit called the NCAA’s pattern and practice of denying requests “regardless of their merits” a “hallmark of bad faith.” His lawsuit claims Council’s time in the NJCAA at a junior college was “not a comparable alternative to competing as a Division I college athlete in terms of exposure, either to earn possible compensation while in college or for future career opportunities.”
According to court documents filed in Douglas County, Council’s representation filed an application for a temporary injunction on July 23, and a summons was issued for representatives from the NCAA and Whitman on July 24.
At Kansas last season, Council averaged 12.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game for the Jayhawks. He was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Council played briefly in NBA Summer League this year for the New Orleans Pelicans.
You can read his entire eligibility lawsuit below:
If Council’s lawsuit is successful, he could join a KU roster that includes the No. 1 high school recruit in the country, Tyran Stokes, as well as McDonald’s All-American guard Taylen Kinney.
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