AAC basketball all-conference awards: Wichita State’s Ricky Council IV wins Sixth Man
The rise of Ricky Council IV hit a new peak on Wednesday morning.
After a promising first season with the Wichita State men’s basketball team, Council took his game to another level this season with the Shockers and was rewarded by coaches when he was voted the Sixth Man of the Year in the American Athletic Conference.
Despite coming off the bench in 21 of 27 games this season, Council managed to be second on the team in scoring (11.7 points) and in rebounding (5.4 rebounds). While his three-point shooting took a dip this season, Council drastically improved his finishing (50.6% on two-pointers, up from 41.5% last season) and his free throw shooting (83.8% on free throws, up from 63.6% last season).
Council was one of WSU’s headliners from Wednesday morning’s release on all-conference awards, as junior wing Dexter Dennis was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Year and sophomore guard Tyson Etienne earned third-team all-conference recognition.
“He’s one of the best players in the league and one of the most talented guys at going to the rim,” said WSU coach Isaac Brown, who openly campaigned for Council to win the award. “He can really score. He’s had some big games.”
After playing less than 16 minutes per game last season, Council became a fixture in WSU’s rotation this season. Even though he came off the bench for the majority of the season, Council was always on the floor down the stretch of close games and matured into a go-to scorer for the Shockers.
In conference play, Council upped his scoring average to 13.4 points per game on better efficiency to go along with 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals. He scored a career-high 31 points in an 84-79 win over UCF on Jan. 26 and has topped 15 points in five of his last eight games with many of those scoring explosions happening in the second half of games.
That’s been no surprise to his old AAU coach Fred Cannon, who still follows Council closely with the Shockers from his home in North Carolina.
“Ricky has always prepared himself for those big moments,” Cannon said. “He feels like he’s letting his team down if he’s not the one delivering in the clutch. He takes pride in being the one to take those big shots and he feels like he’s the one who should be the one taking those shots. He’s been waiting for these moments. A lot of people forget he was very under-recruited coming out of high school. I think he relishes those opportunities to prove that a lot of people messed up.”
Even with the jump Council made this season between his first and second season, those in the program believe an even bigger jump is coming next season. Brown has said he believes Council has the potential not only to become an all-conference player, but to become a Player of the Year in the AAC.
Cannon agrees with that assessment and even added his own challenge for Council in the coming year.
“I think the next step for him is becoming the Defensive Player of the Year,” Cannon said. “With his athleticism, his size, his length, he’s very capable of staying in front of anybody in the country. If he starts to take pride in his defense, I think he can be an NBA player one day and that would put him in a special group with what he’s able to do with the ball. It’s not whether or not he can, he just has to make that a goal. If he does that, then hopefully we’re having the same conversation a year from now about his defense.”
All-AAC men’s basketball team
Player of the Year: Kendric Davis, SMU senior guard
Coach of the Year: Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Defensive Player of the Year: Dexter Dennis, Wichita State junior guard
Freshman of the Year: Jalen Duren, Memphis freshman center
Sixth Man of the Year: Ricky Council IV, Wichita State freshman guard
Most Improved Player of the Year: Kevin Cross, Tulane sophomore center
Sportsmanship Award: Darien Jackson, Tulsa senior guard
All-AAC first team
Josh Carlton, Houston senior center
Jalen Cook, Tulane freshman guard
Kendric Davis, SMU senior guard
Jalen Duren, Memphis freshman center
Fabian White, Houston senior forward
Second team
Damian Dunn, Temple sophomore guard
Kyler Edwards, Houston senior guard
Jaylen Forbes, Tulane sophomore guard
Tristen Newton, East Carolina sophomore guard
Marcus Weathers, SMU senior forward
DeAndre Williams, Memphis senior forward
Third team
Kevin Cross, Tulane sophomore center
David DeJulius, Cincinnati senior guard
Tyson Etienne, Wichita State sophomore guard
Darin Green, UCF junior guard
Jamal Shead, Houston sophomore guard
All-Freshman team
Jalen Duren, Memphis freshman center
Zach Hicks, Temple freshman guard
Darius Johnson, UCF freshman guard
Josh Minott, Memphis freshman forward
Jahlil White, Temple freshman guard
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 10:00 AM.
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