Notre Dame guard Markus Burton wins ACC Rookie of the Year, makes third-team All-ACC

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 in the 2023-24 season.

Burton was named ACC Rookie of the Year on Monday, beating out Duke guard Jared McCain, Pitt guard Carlton “Bub” Carrington and Georgia Tech forward Baye Ndongo. He 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. Carrington received five votes and Ndongo picked up two. 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.

First-year Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry received three votes for Coach of the Year, finishing fourth in a race won by North Carolina’s Hubert Davis.

Burton led all freshmen in the conference with 17.3 points per game, 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.

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 Carrington for most of any player this season.

While Burton did also lead the ACC in turnovers, his sky-high usage rate accounts for a good portion of that. He was truly Notre Dame’s only means of creating offense.

The freshman led all high-major players in usage rate at 33.9, which ranked ninth in college basketball as a whole. The next-highest usage rate from a high-major player was 32.5, coming from Purdue center and National Player of the Year favorite Zach Edey.

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 on 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 one of the highest usage rates in the entire country.

The freshman has saved some of his best performances for Notre Dame’s biggest games, too. He scored 16 points, dished 8 assists and tallied a career-high 6 steals in a win over Virginia Tech on Feb. 10, which snapped a seven-game losing streak. Burton also scored a career-high 31 points in Notre Dame’s upset win over Wake Forest on Feb. 27.

“He’s been circled on the scouting report since Game 1,” Shrewsberry said after the Wake Forest win. “He has to do it every single game, and he’s just rising to the occasion. And he’s getting better. He’s seeing the game. The game’s slowing down for him. He’s making his teammates better. He’s guarding and competing on the other end. He’s doing a lot for our team.”

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.

Burton constantly drew high praise from opposing coaches after each game Notre Dame played.

“Markus Burton is not just one of the best players in the ACC, but he’s maybe one of the three or four best freshmen in the country,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said Jan. 24.

“He is just a hard player to play against,” Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes said Feb. 27. “He is one of the better guards in our league.”

Burton and the Irish will begin ACC Tournament play at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., as 12-seed Notre Dame takes on 13-seed Georgia Tech.