Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BARKING BACK: Kansas PUSH for Melvin Council Return - How Would it IMPACT Kinney, Blyden & Bardwell?

Starting point is 00:00:00 A recent report from Mike Vernon indicates that Melvin Council has a chance of being a Jayhawk this upcoming season. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Derek Johnson here? This is Locked on Jayhawks. And on today's episode, we're going to be breaking down Melvin Council, because a recent report indicates that he might have a chance to be on this upcoming KU. team's roster, what it would mean to the current players, the roster, and for KU in general, as we kind of go through this. Let's start right here. This was news that was reported by Mike Vernon, and it said, Melvin Council is a real

Starting point is 00:00:49 chance to return to Kansas next season. The possibility has been explored throughout July. Later goes on to say both KU and Council want to make this happen, as I understand it. This would have to go through the courts. and there's some more stuff there and some more, you know, nuggets and information or whatnot. But when you look at counsel, he is somebody who would not fit into the traditional five and five. So he can't, he can't jump on board with one of these lawsuits that's happening right now, where he would try to get eligibility with one of the five and five people because he played two years of Jukho,

Starting point is 00:01:26 plus three years of D1 College Basketball, Wagner, St. Bonaventure, Kansas. So he would surpass the five and five. So what he needs to win is different legal, which do keep in mind right now they are allowing for players to you can choose the path you want to go down. You can choose to go under the new five and five rules or you can choose to go down the eligibility path of the old way of how things worked. And so for his standpoint, he's trying to sue because he already got his waiver denied according to this report by the NCAA. So the waiver was already denied. but now it's about bringing this to court, trying to get, I guess, a Kansas judge or something to basically, you know, create this injunction that we've seen other teams and other players be able to have to where he can get basically his other year of Juko not counted in the same way that his first year was. And then he can go by the old rules of saying, okay, I'm a fourth year.

Starting point is 00:02:21 I'm a senior basically, right? So that's how that would work. Now, of course, counsel in his one season for KU, 12.7 points, 5.1 assists, five rebounds, five rebounds. per game. Average of steel per game. 39% from the floor, 31% from 3, 78% of the foul line. The metrics looked really good this past season from Melvin Council. You're talking 99th percentile in RAPM, 43rd percentile, that's below average in offensive windshares per 40, but 90th percentile in defensive windchairs per 40.

Starting point is 00:02:53 65th percentile in PER and 77th percentile wins above replacement player. and he was an impactful player for Kansas. They were six and a half points better per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. What I find interesting, too, is obviously over the very end of the season, counsel really struggled seemingly over the last month of the season. I do think, I don't think he gets enough credit for he balled out in the second half against St. John's second half was really good for him there. But interestingly enough, even with as much as he struggled over the last month of the season,

Starting point is 00:03:23 really probably after the Arizona win, over the last 10 games of the season, Kansas was still, even through some of those struggles, eight points better per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. So that shows the impact. Now, going back to this report, it doesn't mean that we're going to see him in a Kansas uniform this season. First of all, he is technically in the transfer portal. What if KU fills up on roster and he ends up having to go somewhere else? Or there's no guarantee he even gets eligible and is able to play for Kansas, right? So this all could be a nothing burger, but it definitely is interesting and indicates the continued, I guess, interest of both parties.

Starting point is 00:03:58 when I personally was kind of moved past this like I just didn't really think it was an option anymore but this kind of reinvigorates the idea that it absolutely is an option right and I think when you look at Kansas's point guard situation when you look at having some young players there when you look at you know Kansas Bilsuff tends to do better when he has returning talent and potential to bring back a returning starter when you look at just increasing the talent pool on the team add as many good players as you can and figure it out from there. There's obviously a lot of questions here from, you know, what this would mean for Jvonne Bardwell, what this would mean from Hilo Musich? What would this mean for Taylin Kinney and Leroy-Blyden, right? So there's a lot to get to, and we're going to do that

Starting point is 00:04:37 starting next as, you know, you might be hearing the barking and Allen Fieldhouse in the background already. All right. Let's get into, because we'll talk about the impact for some of those other guys, but I want to get into because I have seen some people say that they're not as in on this. They don't necessarily want this to happen. I would. like to see this happen. We'll get into why next. Our episode of the show is brought to you by Indeed when workplace chaos hits and you need the right hire. Indeed sponsor jobs helps connect employers with candidates who match specific needs like skills, certifications, and locations. So less time gets spent searching and more time gets spent finding the right fit. People are finding

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Starting point is 00:06:15 Support our show by saying you heard about it at Indeed or Indeed on Locked on Jayhawks. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed, sponsored jobs. So again, the report here about, you know, Melvin Council being maybe a possibility to join this upcoming team roster if they can work around it legally. And it just creates a juggling of, okay, you have potentially, Javon Bardwell could reclassify, but he's not eligible right now. Potentially, you could get Baha'lomousy Kitch, but he's not eligible right now from international regs.

Starting point is 00:06:51 Potentially, you could get Melvin Council back, but he's not eligible right now and needs the sue. So I guess you just play the numbers game and say, hey, hopefully one of them works out. hopefully two of them work out, you know, and maybe there's even other guys that you look into there as well and just kind of play a numbers game. But I have seen some Kansas fit. And I will say, I don't even know that it's a, because I think it's a good reminder, social media, message boards, stuff like that. It's not real life, you know.

Starting point is 00:07:17 Like, yes, it can be a vocalization of a certain minority or even majority of something. But like, you know what real life is? real life is going to Allen Fieldhouse and watching Melvin counsel do something fun on a basketball court and watching the entire stadium bark at him. You know, that's real life. What's not real life is some cranky person posting on a message board and always, you know, trying to poo-poo everything, right? It's not real life. Okay. Neither is when you're posting on, you know, Twitter and X.

Starting point is 00:07:53 Like, it's not a real population or sentiment of things. So I say all this to say that I don't exactly know what the number is. If I were to poll KU fans and be able to ask every KU fan, do you want Melvin counsel back? Do you not? I'd imagine if you asked about any player outside of like. And even that, no, honestly, any player, any player. I could ask about Tyron Stokes. I could ask about, you know, Darren Peterson before the season started.

Starting point is 00:08:20 There probably would have been people that are like, oh, no, I don't want to go into the freshman one and done thing. Like there's always going to be some number of people. or just say, I don't want that guy on the roster, right? But like to a real number, I don't know, man. Like what is the number of people who would say yes? What is the number of people that say no? Is it just a vocal minority that you've seen kind of speak up against?

Starting point is 00:08:39 I have no idea. I'm sure there's going to be some people in the comment section. But like, I think the biggest question that people would have or that I've seen people have about if you bring him back, there's really two. It's the shooting is one of them. And the other one is, what the potential impact could be on tailing, Kenny, and Leroy Blyden. Let's start with the shooting.

Starting point is 00:09:02 Okay. Counsel was like 31% from three. He obviously had the big game against NC State, and then it wasn't great the rest of the season. You know, theoretically, it was his best three-point shooting season, so maybe could you get it up again to 33% or something? I think in general he's always been in that range, and you would just expect him to kind of be in that range continually.

Starting point is 00:09:21 But here's the big difference to me. You look at this past season's Kansas team, and how many reliable three-point shooters, could KU throw on the floor. I get it. El Marco shot in the high 30s. Teams didn't defend him like that because you know why he's taken one to two threes a game. You know,

Starting point is 00:09:36 Jari McAwl could only shoot threes at home. Trey White could only shoot threes in the corner and it had to be off the catch. Bryson Tiller, not a reliable three-point shooter. You're not getting anything from five, obviously, from Flory. Peterson was a really good three-point shooter and demanded respect. And, you know, it's just not a ton of shooters around you. When you look at this roster for KU, I expect Taylin Kinney to be at least an average to good three-point shooter. I expect Leroyd-Blyden to be at least average, if not a good to great three-point shooter.

Starting point is 00:10:07 I expect Tyron Soakes to at least be an average three-point shooter. Keanu Dawes, 36% from three in Big 12th play last year. I expect Keanu to at least be an average three-point shooter. Cole Rosario, you know, had some struggles last year. I expect him, though, to at least be an average three-point shooter. Dennis Parker Jr., 38% from three. last year. Again, expect him to be average to good from three point range. If you play Luke Barnett at all, that's going to be a really good three point shooter. I look through the roster.

Starting point is 00:10:35 If you get Musa Kitz, right, he can at least shoot three some five. There are so many more options to at least be competent three point shooters on this year's team to surround a guy like Melvin counsel with than there were on last year's team. So that's why I'm not overly worried about that. The other part of it is this. With Kinney and Blighton, how would this affect them? Or, would you be worried at all, you know, I don't know, what would it do, right? I think if you're playing a backcourt of counsel next to one of Kinney or Blighton, and let's be clear with this, if counsel comes in, he's going to be expected to be your best guard. So that's why, like, you're not adding someone who like, oh, like you're adding him.

Starting point is 00:11:14 He's their third best. Melvin counsel would come in and be KU's best guard. I feel good about that, right? And the thing is, the pairing of playing counsel next to one of Kinney or Blighton, to me, it works. When you think of Melvin Council's game, I think fast, I think speedy, I think ability to get downhill. I think of being a good passer with low turnover numbers. I think of being a good defender. I think of having the dog mentality that everybody loves, right?

Starting point is 00:11:45 When I think of Taylin, Kinney and Lerer Blyden, I think of offensive-focused guards, different ways. Blighton's more quick. Kinney's not as good of an athlete. Both of them are going to have defensive questions. Both of them can get steals, but I think are going to have defensive. questions, both can be good three-point shooters. And in a perfect world, like, it's a perfect compliment for each other. Okay.

Starting point is 00:12:06 If you're playing another team and they have a good scoring guard, that's who Melvin counsel guards. Then on the flip side, counsel's inconsistency shooting the three, well, he's going to have a good three-point shooter playing next to him at a guard position. And then the athleticism stuff, like if you're worried about the foot speed with Kenny, well, guess what? That's where you have counsel kind of come into the play, right? And then you have this young back court.

Starting point is 00:12:30 Are you worried about, you know, how neither guy, you know, having a year of experience at KU, a combined just one year of college basketball. Well, guess what? You bring in a player who's played, you know, five years of college basketball, counting the Juko years in Melvin Council. I would like the fit next to either guy personally. So I'm in on this. He's a fan favorite.

Starting point is 00:12:50 And that's part of this as well. I know for, you know, at the end of the day, the most entertaining thing for people is to win games. And that's what they care about the most. and I get that. But like, can we have some fun along the way? Melvin Council is objectively a fun player. So I'm all in on this. What exactly would this mean for the rest of the offseason moves, though?

Starting point is 00:13:08 And for, you know, potentially one of those two guys, we'll get to that next. So if Melvin Council returns for KU, I think that you figure one of Kinney or Blighton would go to the bench. Here's how I would view it. I don't mean to make this comparison to say they're going to be this good. I want to make that clear. This would be blasphemous to say that they would not be this good, right? But I think role-wise or what you would be expecting from just the roles of the players, go back to the 07 and 08 J-Hawks.

Starting point is 00:13:47 You've got Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson as your starting back court. Chalmers is really good three-point shooter, got a lot of steals, was an opportunistic defender. He was playing next to Russ Rob, who was your solid defender, more of a passer, not as good of a shooter. Off the bench as your sixth man was Sharon Collins, this dynamic guard who could come in. You could even play all three of them together at different stretches of time, but you basically, those three guys were taking up those 80 minutes

Starting point is 00:14:17 between those two guard spots. Again, not saying they would be, because those guys are KU legends, right? But just in terms of the role, if you had Talen Kinney in kind of the Mario Chalmers role of being the good three-point shooter who's going to get some steals he does have quick hands but sometimes he's going to get blown by but he's playing next to the solid defender like melvin counsel and then you have the guy coming off the bench who can be

Starting point is 00:14:42 this dynamic quick scoring guard in the way that charon was that you would be doing with leroy blighton i think to me that would be kind of the role allocation of those players and that really worked in a real way right and so yeah sure if leroy blyden you know is he going to feel blindsided if counsel comes back and now blighton's your sixth man and is he going to feel like i didn't sign up for this, I signed up to be a starter. I don't know, right? In the same way that, like, would, would Taylin Kenny being your sixth man? Would, you know, he feel betrayed as part of that. I don't know. But at the end of that, you have to focus on making each and every year's basketball team the very best you can because having a player back the next year is never a promise.

Starting point is 00:15:22 So you do what you can to make it happen, right? As far as the rest of the off season, there are technically two open scholarships still for Kansas. Musakich committed to Kansas. but until they can get him eligible, technically he's not on the roster. Sounds like they have some interest in reclassifying Bardwell, but not a sure thing. And I'm sure this is part of the reason why maybe it's not a sure thing just yet. You know, it gets kind of interesting of how you order these things and how you make this work. It'd be easy for me to say, just give me counsel and Bardwell. The more I've thought about it, I'm like, yeah, but can't.

Starting point is 00:16:03 KU really does need just another center body, right? So it kind of gets complicated there. But I will say just because Moosecich is committed, I believe Bryce and Sayre committed to KU last year. And that didn't end up happening because he didn't get eligible. And they couldn't figure out a way to do it. So it wouldn't be the first time that that would kind of happen for KU from an overseas perspective. But it does make you have to be a little bit more choosy with what you want to do.

Starting point is 00:16:25 And as you are running out of time, you got about a month until classes start, like there is going to come a point here in a couple weeks where you're just going to have to say, hey, if we haven't heard something on this or we feel like the ball's not rolling fast enough, we're just going to kind of have to go with the one that we feel like has the best chance to be eligible for us. And so that'll be kind of interesting how that all works for KU, but I do think this, I've been saying all along that I think it makes sense for KU to add another ball handler. And why not be able to get a guy who was a starter for you last year? If you can make it work, if you can get the right suit, if you can get the right judge, if you can get him

Starting point is 00:17:01 I'd love to be barking in the field house once again. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on a YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. Don't forget to check out our Phil Steele episode from earlier today. We'll also have a Dennis Parker Jr. preview coming at you tomorrow. This has been Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BARKING BACK: Kansas PUSH for Melvin Council Return - How Would it IMPACT Kinney, Blyden & Bardwell?

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