A Monroe County, New York, judge has handed Melvin Council Jr. a major win, granting the former Kansas guard a preliminary injunction against the NCAA that clears the way for him to be eligible for the 2026-27 basketball season.
Judge Daniel J. Doyle issued the ruling Tuesday morning, and the injunction also blocks the NCAA from going back and punishing Council - or any school that might add him to its roster - for what happens next.
For now, the length of that protection is still up in the air. Doyle told Council’s attorneys to prepare a proposed order and share it with opposing counsel before filing it with the court by Oct.
- If the sides can’t agree, each must submit arguments supporting its own version of the order.
The NCAA also could try to appeal, much like it is doing in the Tre White case.
What happens with Kansas is still unclear, too. Council recently showed up in the student directory, according to the Journal-World, before the deadline to request late enrollment. KU has not answered repeated questions about whether he is actually enrolled.
Council entered the transfer portal after the 2025-26 season when it appeared he had no eligibility left, and one of the reasons his lawyers moved the case from Douglas County to New York was to widen it beyond KU and the Big 12 Conference. At the time, there was concern over whether Kansas would put him on its roster because of the Big 12’s rule change banning professional players.
That concern looks less pressing now that Kansas has added White - who, like Council, played in the NBA Summer League - and because Doyle did not accept the NCAA’s argument that Council should be treated as a professional athlete. Instead, the judge sided with Council’s position that NCAA bylaws do not bar Summer League participation.
Doyle also focused heavily on how the NCAA handled Council’s waiver requests. Council’s case centers on the argument that his junior college years should not count against his four years of NCAA eligibility. He says he had to go to a JUCO out of high school because of pending criminal charges, and that he was later exonerated.
The judge said there was no sign the NCAA “reviewed, considered, or even passingly contemplated” Council’s waiver requests in light of those circumstances and Bylaw 12.6.1.7.1.3, which says, “The Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement reserves the right to review requests that do not meet the more-than-one-year criteria of this waiver for circumstances of extraordinary or extreme hardship.”
“Could the NCAA have invoked their Bylaws to grant Council an additional year of eligibility in light of the circumstances outside his control emanating from the subsequently vacated guilty plea?” Doyle wrote. “Absolutely, yes.”
If Kansas decides to bring Council back, he would appear to occupy the Jayhawks’ last open roster spot. Council played at Monroe College before moving on to Wagner and St. Bonaventure, and he averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds for Kansas during the 2025-26 season.
The Journal-World has requested comment from KU and the NCAA.
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