A senior and a sophomore share KU basketball’s Danny Manning Mr. Jayhawk Award
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- Melvin Council Jr. and Flory Bidunga co-win 2026 Kansas’ Danny Manning Mr. Jayhawk Award.
- Council had 12.7 ppg, led KU with 177 assists; Bidunga led in rebounds (9.0), blocks (91).
- No postseason banquet this year; winners announced to The Star by coach Bill Self.
Kansas senior men’s basketball guard Melvin Council Jr. and sophomore forward Flory Bidunga are co-winners of the program’s 2025-26 Danny Manning Mr. Jayhawk Award, coach Bill Self told The Star on Thursday night.
The award annually is presented to a KU player (or in some cases players) who during the course of the season exhibited excellence both on and off the court.
The yearly winners are chosen for their “leadership, sacrifice and high character.”
“Melvin and Flory shared the Mr Jayhawk award this year. The award is named after Danny who was the best example of an all around Jayhawk. Both had terrific years and represented us in a winning way in all they did,” Self told The Star.
Council, a 6-foot-4 combo guard from Rochester, New York, finished fourth on the team in scoring (12.7 ppg) and was first on the team in assists (177 against 66 turnovers).
Bidunga, a 6-10, 235-pound native of Democratic Republic of Congo, finished third on the team in scoring (13.3 ppg) on 64.0% shooting. He was first in rebound average (9.0 rpg) and first in blocked shots (91 in 35 games).
The award, which had last been won by KJ Adams, is named after Danny Manning, the program’s all-time leading scorer who was a two-time All-American and 1988 national champion. The award normally is presented at the end of the postseason basketball banquet.
There’s no banquet this year, for the second straight spring, because of scheduling conflicts in the program. There have been co-winners before. The award was shared by Ochai Agbaji, David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot after KU’s national-title victory in 2022.
