Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2024 45 MEN'S BASKETBALL Too many bodies met him at the rim. The talented youngster had to adjust. His coach at Penn, Al Rhodes, had a sit-down meeting with Burton and his dad, Markus. The message: You need to start shooting those free throw line jumpers. Burton wasn't thrilled at first, be- cause he bought into the philosophy that any shot that isn't at the three- point line or in the paint isn't a good one. His dad, though, was sold and pushed Burton to work on it. That's what he did. He struggled at first, but he kept at it. "I really wasn't good at it," Burton said. "I was shooting it real hard. I was pushing it a lot. It wasn't natural to me. "But then again, I was practicing it a lot, and I finally got the touch. I knew how to shoot it, I knew when to get to my spots to shoot it, and it worked out good for me." Within the next two years, Burton re- alized what he had unlocked. "I started to develop it a lot better," Burton said. "A lot of players don't know how to guard it, because they think you're gonna shoot a layup. When you stop and shoot a mid-range, it's probably best for you if you're a smaller guard." The plan worked. Once that shot was on the scouting report, Penn's oppo- nents had to respect it. Burton's speed and quickness with the ball in his hands took over from there. "When I stop and shoot it a couple times, then I can drive past them and they don't know what to do," Burton said. "It's helped me out a lot." When Burton pulls the mid-range game out of his arsenal, it's usually not pre-planned. He's reading and reacting to the defense, looking to get to the rim but knowing that the jumper is in his back pocket if he gets cut off or the de- fender gives him too much space. Aside from that, Burton doesn't have a secret to his success from mid-range. He just kept practicing it and practic- ing it and practicing it, day in and day out in the gym. By the time he reached Notre Dame, the motion from dribbling to gathering to rising to firing became one natural, fluid stroke that he could repeat from muscle memory. First-year Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry doesn't typically like his players shooting long twos, but in Burton's case, he made an exception. He encouraged Burton to be selective, though, not opting for the mid-range when he can take it to the rim. "He told me just not to settle for it, because it's gonna be there all game," Burton said. "I agree with him. Early on, I kind of settled when I could've got to the rim. But it's a shot that he allows me to take, and it's a shot that I work on every single day." As his first season nears the endpoint, barring a miracle run in the ACC Tourna- ment, Burton's next goal for that shot is getting more lift on it. He's working on shooting off two feet more consistently and generating more power with his legs. When he doesn't do the latter, Burton said, that's when his shot can come up short. And if he can make that correc- tion to improve his mid-range jumper even further, watch out. ✦ 2023-24 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time/Result Nov. 6 Niagara W, 70-63 Nov. 11 Western Carolina L, 71-61 Nov. 16 vs. Auburn# L, 83-59 Nov. 17 vs. Oklahoma State# W, 66-64 (OT) Nov. 22 Maryland Eastern Shore W, 75-55 Nov. 28 at South Carolina% L, 65-53 Dec. 2 at Miami* L, 62-49 Dec. 5 Western Michigan W, 86-65 Dec. 9 at Marquette L, 78-59 Dec. 16 Georgetown L, 72-68 (OT) Dec. 19 The Citadel L, 65-45 Dec. 22 Marist W, 60-56 Dec. 30 Virginia* W, 76-54 Jan. 3 NC State* L, 54-52 Jan. 6 Duke* L, 67-59 Jan. 9 at Georgia Tech* W, 75-68 (OT) Jan. 13 Florida State* L, 67-58 Jan. 15 at Boston College* L, 63-59 Jan. 24 Miami* L, 73-61 Jan. 27 Boston College* L, 61-58 Jan. 31 at Virginia* L, 65-53 Feb. 3 at Pitt* L, 70-60 Feb. 7 at Duke* L, 71-53 Feb. 10 Virginia Tech* W, 74-66 Feb. 14 Georgia Tech* W, 58-55 Feb. 21 at Louisville* W, 72-50 Feb. 24 at Syracuse* L, 88-85 Feb. 27 Wake Forest* W, 70-65 Mar. 2 Clemson* W, 69-62 Mar. 5 at North Carolina* L, 84-51 Mar. 9 at Virginia Tech* L, 82-76 Mar. 12 vs. Georgia Tech$ 2 p.m. # Legend's Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.; * ACC game; % ACC/SEC Challenge; $ ACC Tournament at Washington, D.C. Burton Earns ACC Rookie Of The Year Honors Notre Dame men's basketball struck gold with a 5-foot-11 point guard from, as the Purcell Pavilion public address announcer puts it, right next door in Mishawaka. That point guard, Markus Burton, was the Atlantic Coast Conference's best freshman during the 2023-24 season. Burton was named ACC Rookie of the Year March 11, beating out Duke guard Jared McCain. Burton also made the All-ACC third team and was obviously named to the All-Rookie team. The Notre Dame star received 46 votes for Rookie of the Year, while McCain finished second with 20. Burton is the first Notre Dame freshman to ever win ACC Rookie of the Year and first Irish player to be named their conference's best freshman since Chris Thomas in 2002 (Big East). Additionally, first-year Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry received three votes for Coach of the Year. He finished fourth in a race won by North Carolina's Hubert Davis. Burton led all freshmen in the conference with 17.3 points per game during the regular season, ranking sixth in the league overall. He also finished sixth in the ACC and second among freshmen with 4.3 assists per game, as well as fourth and first, respectively, in steals with 2.0 per game in the regular season. While some freshmen hit a rookie wall during the home stretch of the season, Burton ran through it. He scored more than 20 points in four of Notre Dame's last five games, shooting an efficient 48.7 percent during that stretch. Notre Dame's point guard won ACC Rookie of the Week four times, tying Pitt's Carlton Carrington for most of any player this season. Burton started his college career with a bang, breaking LaPhonso Ellis' record for most points in a Fighting Irish men's basketball debut. He scored 29 points Nov. 6 against Niagara, just passing Ellis' 27 in 1988. He established himself right away as Notre Dame's best player, and it led to him posting a 33.9 percent usage rate, the ninth-highest mark nationally. The freshman saved some of his best performances for Notre Dame's biggest games, too. Burton scored a career-high 31 points in Notre Dame's upset win over Wake Forest Feb. 27. "He's been circled on the [opponents'] scouting report since Game 1," Shrewsberry said Feb. 27. "He has to do it every single game, and he's just rising to the occasion." By the end of the season, Burton totaled 535 points. That set a new program freshman scoring record, passing Troy Murphy, who set the mark in the 1998-99 season with 519 points. — Jack Soble