Melvin Council Jr. is returning to Kansas practice. Coach Bill Self said Council would practice immediately after receiving a preliminary injunction, according to KU Sports. ESPN also reported the return Sunday. That gives Self another experienced guard to work with, although the team's published 2026-27 roster has not yet been updated to include Council.
Council started at point guard last season. ESPN lists his final averages at 12.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Kansas's March conference honors release named him Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Those are useful measures of a player returning to a familiar program. They do not assign him a starting spot on a different roster.
An immediate practice choice
Kansas's current roster lists freshman guard Taylen Kinney and sophomore Toledo transfer Leroy Blyden Jr. Council can now practice beside them, giving Self a chance to test where an established point guard fits with two newer options. That is the basketball decision in front of Kansas. It remains a practice question until the team shows how it will use those guards in games.
There is a timing question, too. KU Sports reported that the judge asked Council's lawyers to circulate a draft order before an October 27 submission deadline. We have not located the signed order itself. Self's statement establishes the team's plan to bring Council into practice, while the public roster still omits him. That mismatch should be tracked, not converted into a claim that he has already claimed a particular game role.
CBS Sports placed Kansas No. 18 in its September 28 preseason Top 25 And 1. That projection was made before Sunday's return announcement. Council gives the Jayhawks a proven ball handler to evaluate against their incoming guards, but a ranking cannot settle who starts or how the court process finishes. The next useful evidence is an updated Kansas roster, the court's published order and Self's first public account of the guard rotation after practicing with Council.
