WASHINGTON D.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference’s Rookie of the Year Award is coming to South Bend thanks to the undeniable play from Notre Dame guard Markus Burton. The South Bend area local, who wasn’t even on the ACC’s Preseason Rookie Watch List, captured the league’s attention by storm during the 2023-24 season, earning the program’s third-ever Rookie of the Year Award and first in the ACC.
ND alums Troy Murphy (1999) and Chris Thomas (2002) were previous Rookie of the Year winners in the Big East Conference.
Furthermore, Rookie of the Year wasn’t the only hardware Burton collected on Monday evening. He also earned Third Team All-ACC honors, and of course, the nod for All-Rookie Team.
“It’s really impressive with what (Burton) did and the stats he put up when he was No. 1 on the scouting report for every single ACC game. Burton ranked in the top-six in the league in points, assists and steals, of any class, and he got the opponent’s best defender marking him every single night,” Glenn & Stacey Murphy Notre Dame Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry said.
from Indiana Mr. Basketball to ACC Rookie of the Year 👏
congrats to @markussburton on being named ACC Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie team, and 3rd Team All-ACC! #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/OFAi4C5dJV
— Notre Dame Men's Basketball (@NDmbb) March 11, 2024
In league play, Markus Burton ranked in the top six amongst all classes in scoring, assists and steals, averaging 17.5 points (6th in ACC), 4.8 assists (3rd) and 2.2 steals (1st). Amongst ACC rookies, those numbers ranked first, second and first, respectively.
Burton is the only rookie in the entire country averaging at least 17.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals. Going deeper, Burton and Syracuse’s Judah Mintz are just 2-of-4 ACC players to produce that stat line since 1996 (Duke’s Jason Williams & Maryland’s Steve Francis). If Burton finishes with a 17-4-2 stat line, he’ll be the first player in program history to do so.
Burton boasts 535 points on the year which broke the Notre Dame freshman scoring record, surpassing the previous holder Troy Murphy’s 519 points (1998-99).
That’s good for a 17.3 points per game scoring average in overall games, which ranks third nationally amongst Division I freshmen. Burton recorded double-digit points in all but three games, which included nine of 20+ and a career-high of 31.
Defensively, Burton sits at 61 steals on the year, which is tied for the fifth most in a single season at Notre Dame, of any class. If he finishes with a 2.0 steals per game average, he would become just the fourth player in program history to do so (Chris Thomas, David Rivers, Jerian Grant).
Burton enters the ACC Tournament in arguably the best stretch of his rookie season. He is averaging the 2nd most points in the ACC since Feb. 24, aka over the last five games, with his 22.6 ppg in that timespan.
The Fighting Irish jumpstart ACC Tournament play on Tuesday, March 12, against Georgia Tech. That match tips off at 2 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.
— ND —