{"id":116068,"date":"2025-01-04T15:25:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T20:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=116068"},"modified":"2025-01-04T15:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T20:25:24","slug":"markus-burtons-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/04\/markus-burtons-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Markus Burton’s Return: What is Notre Dame’s Potential?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The crowd cheered, and the team was filled with energy. Markus Burton<\/a>‘s presence was felt before the ball was in play. Notre Dame struggled while their star was out with a knee injury he suffered early in a loss to Rutgers. Despite being on a minute restriction in the first half, his charisma on the court energized Notre Dame throughout the game. They needed a star, and Burton was finally there to lead the troops. They seemed destined to win before a late foul on a three that gave North Carolina a four-point play. Let’s dive into Burton’s return and what it means for the Fighting Irish.<\/p>\n

Markus Burton’s Return: What is Notre Dame’s Potential?<\/h2>\n

Irish Go Blow-for-Blow Against North Carolina in Markus Burton’s Return<\/h3>\n

North Carolina has struggled to win big games, but they have all the makings of an NCAA Tournament team if they can string together quality wins. North Carolina seemed to be pulling away when they expanded their lead to 11 early in the second half. Burton still had something to say about the game. Burton dominated the gameplay and led the Irish on a 12-0 run to give them a one-point lead. The teams went back and forth, with Burton continuously providing an answer to every North Carolina basket.<\/p>\n

Despite the end result, Notre Dame proved that they can play with most teams in the ACC with Markus Burton. The ACC is weaker than the other power conferences<\/a>, but the opportunities for big wins provide Notre Dame a lot to play for in the last two months. Many metrics, like NET<\/a> and KenPom,<\/a> respect North Carolina despite their record. They also favor Notre Dame, even without Burton. This game shows that Notre Dame is one of the best in the ACC after Burton’s return.<\/p>\n

Burton Raises the Level of Davis and Shrewsberry<\/h3>\n

Sometimes, the most obvious point of emphasis in a star player’s return is their scoring. However, Burton opened up the offense just by being present. While he was averaging 4.3 assists per game previously, Burton only picked up two in the game against North Carolina. Being on the floor, Tae Davis<\/a> and Braeden Shrewsberry<\/a> had easier scoring opportunities. They matched their scoring for the season, but it is important to remember that Burton has missed about half the season. Adding more than 18 points per game to their regular production is a real offensive boost.<\/p>\n

Davis and Shrewsberry were forced to step up in Burton’s absence, but it will prove to be an important development for the Irish moving forward. The experience they gained while playing without Burton will elevate their play with him. Burton’s return will lead to much more balanced and quality play from his co-stars, leading to better Notre Dame play.<\/p>\n

Can Notre Dame Make a Tournament Run?<\/h3>\n

Despite racking up losses, only the losses to Georgia Tech and Elon will be bad losses for the Irish. The problem with playing for a weak ACC is the low number of quality wins. The “simplest” path for Notre Dame to make the NCAA Tournament would be an ACC championship. However, the tournament committee has said in the past (most notably with Zion Williamson<\/a> at Duke) that losing a star player will not negatively affect the team if they are available for most of the season. That provides a glimmer of hope, but they still will need to finish at least 14-6 or 15-5 in the ACC to make a run at the tournament. A 1-2 start means a near-perfect finish to have any chance.<\/p>\n

Their NET is solid, but that only goes so far. The loss against North Carolina and struggling coach Hubert Davis<\/a> hurts a lot. However, with Burton’s return, the Irish have more hope to salvage their season. My dark horse in the ACC is finally back, but it appears to be too late for a postseason push.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The crowd cheered, and the team was filled with energy. Markus Burton‘s presence was felt before the ball was in play. Notre Dame struggled while their star was out with a knee injury he suffered early in a loss to Rutgers. Despite being on a minute restriction in the first half, his charisma on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5370,"featured_media":116094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[3120,914,856],"class_list":["post-116068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-acc-basketball","tag-north-carolina-tar-heels","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116095,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116068\/revisions\/116095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}