Melvin Council Jr. didn’t exactly send a warm welcome to Flory Bidunga ahead of Kansas’ matchup with Louisville.
Council, who spoke with reporters Thursday before KU’s preseason opener against Pittsburg State, was asked how he planned to greet his former teammate when the Jayhawks face the Cardinals on Oct. 19 in Allen Fieldhouse. His answer pointed straight to one of basketball’s most famous moments.
“All I've got to say is, you guys saw the Kobe Bryant-Pau Gasol [video] for [Team] USA? I'm going to leave it at that,” Council said with a smirk.
The reference was obvious. Council was invoking the 2008 Olympics, when Bryant and his Lakers teammate Pau Gasol squared off for gold, and Bryant made it clear he wasn’t taking it easy on a friend. Before the game, he told his Team USA teammates he planned to "run through that mother******" on the opening play, then followed through by crashing into Gasol on the first possession in a clip that has lived on in basketball memory.
That seems to be the attitude Council is bringing toward Bidunga, even after the two shared the floor in Kansas’ starting lineup last season. He didn’t flat-out say there’s bad blood, but he made it clear any friendship gets shelved once the ball goes up.
Council’s path back to Lawrence has been a wild one. Kansas spent the offseason believing his college career was over, until he was granted an injunction to play next season. Unless the Monroe County Supreme Court reverses that ruling, the Rochester native will suit up for the 2026-27 campaign.
He had gone undrafted in June, then played with the New Orleans Pelicans in Summer League before returning to the college ranks with the Jayhawks. In his first season at Kansas after transferring from St. Bonaventure, he averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds.
Bidunga, meanwhile, was named the 2025-26 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and finished his sophomore year averaging 13.3 points and 9.0 rebounds. He left KU because of a lucrative NIL offer from Pat Kelsey and Louisville that Kansas could not match.
Council’s bluntness is part of why Kansas welcomed him back so openly when he chose to return. He has become one of the faces of the program, and his answer Thursday only added some extra heat to a game that was already going to draw attention.
Bidunga’s return to the Phog will come in an exhibition, but that won’t stop Kansas fans from making noise, especially after his recent backhanded comments about why he left. Even without the game counting in the standings, this is one college basketball fans will have circled.
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