SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The ephemeral dipping-the-toe part of the NBA Draft process hasn’t been nearly as catalyzing to Notre Dame point guard Markus Burton’s offseason growth process as the Irish roster enhancements he returned to.
“We definitely have a lot more talent,” the late-May draft withdrawal/rising sophomore said before a recent summer Irish men’s basketball practice ahead of the team’s Aug. 5-15 trip to Spain for some exhibition games and bonding.
“The talent level is definitely way higher than what it was last year,” Burton continued. “And the competition level is very high. So, it’s fun every day at practice. It’s a better look from last year until now.
“It's going to help me become a better player, but I'm also going to help my teammates become better players, too. It’s going to make a lot more things easier.”
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As a freshman, the 5-foot-11 point guard was able to take home ACC Rookie-of-the-Year honors after ND’s 13-20 showing overall and 7-13 mark in the ACC in head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s first year as the Irish head coach.
Burton set an ND school record for freshman scoring with 577 points, and his 17.5-per game average led the team as did his 33.7 minutes per game. Burton also contributed 4.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 steals last season.
But he did have some inconsistent shooting nights, logging a .421 percentage from the field and .300 from the 3-point arc overall, while averaging roughly four turnovers a game.
“He's been really efficient offensively,” Shrewsberry said of Burton’s play in the team’s summer workouts. “Part of that is he doesn't have to do as much [as last season], so the shots he's getting [are] better shots. He's making those shots, too. So his efficiency has been great for us.
“I think that's part of the things that the NBA guys were looking for as well — his efficiency needed to go up. He's not going to be a high-turnover guy like he was, because he's not going to have to force the issue as much. And he’s not going to have to force the issue scoring as much.
“So, his efficiency is going to get better, which is only going to help in the eyes of the decision-makers at the next level.”
And in the yes of his teammates, old and new. Three grad transfers and three scholarship freshmen joined the seven holdovers in June. Among those who Burton is excited about among the newcomers is 6-6 freshman point guard Sir Mohammed, who missed the last week-plus of ND practice sessions with a minor injury.
“Sir is a really good player,” Burton said. “It sucks that he's hurt right now. But I mean, when he first came here, I was like, ‘Wow, this kid’s really good. He got game.’ But when he comes back, it’s going to be even better, due to the fact that I have somebody that can help me. I can help him, and it's going to be good being his running mate.
“Our roster this year is way deeper. Like you can go out in the game and give your full effort and somebody else is going to come in and give their full effort, too. And then you go back in, give your full effort. And then somebody else is coming back in and gives their full effort.
“So, it's going to be fun playing with guys that are always playing hard and knowing that they're going to have you back at all times.”
Burton submitted his name as an early entry for the NBA Draft on April 11, roughly four weeks after the Irish played their final game of the 2024 season, a 72-59 loss to Wake Forest in the second round of the ACC Tournament on March 13.
He withdrew from draft consideration in mid-May, well ahead of the May 29 deadline for underclassmen to do so and still retain their college eligibility.
“I kind of took a few weeks off,” Burton said of his postseason recovery routine. “Just hung out with family, just did other things besides basketball. But it took me probably about a month.”
In the summertime, though, after going through the NBA process and getting valuable — but not surprising to him — feedback about what he needs to work on, Burton was working overtime.
“He really worked this summer,” Shrewsberry said. “He was a constant here and in other places where he went and worked. But late at night — I know I'm not supposed to be here [in Rolfs Athletics Hall] late at night in the summers, but I don't have any hobbies. So, a lot of times when I was leaving, he was in here.
“Like, he's spent a lot of time in his gym, and you see it in how he's playing. It's standing out even more with the guys that he's playing with, and how much more space he has to play, which I think is going to open up a lot of stuff.”
And help Shrewsberry reconfigure a team offensively that, at 64.0 points per game last season, ranked 342nd out of 351 Division I teams in 2024 and was only slightly better than that nationally in a host of other offensive statistical categories, including field-goal percentage (330th at .407) and assist-to-turnover ratio (335th at 0.81 per game).
“We're trying to figure out the best style for this team,” Shrewsberry said. “What you see from one year to the next might be different, because each team is different. And I've got to adjust to our team. So, that part has been fun. That's fun for me, to try and find out what's best for this group and what's best for this team.
“There's days when the ball is moving, the ball is popping, and it's swinging from side to side and we're running really good offense. We haven't done much defensive stuff, so the offense should be further ahead. But when you see stuff like that, it's really encouraging, as a coach, to see the progress that we've made from where we were at the start, in early June, to where we are now with still a lot room to grow.”
And an elevated version of Burton is the biggest key to that growth, with three exhibition games ahead of him and the rest of the Irish as they visit Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia next month.
“Just building a bond with my teammates, building connections, learning each other a lot better and just having fun with each other,” Burton said of the team’s goals on the trip.
And buying into Shrewberry’s vision and tweaks for year 2 of his regime.
“He keeps it real with you,” Burton said of his head coach. “He's not going to sugarcoat anything. He's going to push you. But he's also going to help you out with a lot of things too. He's also going to give you confidence to be the basketball player that you need to be.”
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