Why Kansas' Melvin Council Jr. Could Bounce Back From Cold Streak

Depth has been a concern for Kansas this season, and no player has felt that more than Melvin Council Jr.

Council leads the Jayhawks with 34.8 minutes per game, good for fifth-most among all Big 12 players and 77th nationally. Part of what makes him so effective his is effort and energy, but it's difficult to maintain that all the time when logging heavy minutes.

The senior point guard played 40 minutes in Kansas' Big 12 Tournament win over TCU, and then clocked 35 minutes the next day in a 22-point loss to Houston. Those represented two of Council's worst shooting games of the season, going 3-for-12 against TCU and 1-for-14 against Houston.

Kansas coach Bill Self believes there's some correlation between Council's shooting numbers and fatigue.

"I actually think it is a little bit. When have we not see him this year not have energy? We say it all the time, yeah, we're beating him up, we're wearing him out," Self said Sunday. "Regardless of what anybody thinks, even though world-class athletes and everything, his body's never been through anything like this before or his mind.

"And I think it causes some fatigue, but he'll be fresher and ready to go in large part because of a little bit of extra time, give him an extra day. But also the fact that we didn't play well over there, so that created an extra day as well."

To combat this, Self gave Council some extra rest going into the NCAA Tournament. While Kansas would have liked to advance further in the Big 12 Tournament, it may have been a blessing in disguise to not play in Saturday's championship game and rest instead.

The Jayhawks also play their first NCAA Tournament game against No. 13 seed Cal Baptist Friday at 8:45 p.m. CT, providing even more rest as opposed to playing in the early Thursday window.

"I actually think the extra day was good for us, especially for one player more than anyone else, Melvin," Self said Sunday. "You guys could probably tell that his body is getting a little run down. We're only playing him 39 minutes a game and asking him to basically do a lot of stuff. So I think even today I gave him the day off, so he got Saturday and Sunday, when everybody else practiced."

Kansas practiced Wednesday morning in Lawrence before traveling to San Diego so that it wouldn't have to practice late on Wednesday in case there were travel issues.

For Council, extra time off could contribute to a bounce-back performance.

"He looked fresh as a daisy," Self said Wednesday with a smile. "No, he looked fine. But I did give him off Sunday as well, so Saturday and Sunday. He's logged the most minutes I guess of anybody, and he plays at a pretty high pace. And when he's best, he's got energy. I felt he looked tired this past weekend, so we gave him a couple days."

Rest could be especially important for Council, given his important matchup in Friday's game. He'll likely spend the most time defending Cal Baptist point guard Dominique Daniels Jr., the WAC Player of the Year who's the nation's fifth-leading scorer at 23.2 points per game.

If Kansas advances, Council's defense on Daniels and responsibilities running Kansas' offense will be major reasons why.