IU basketball has added seven players this spring from the transfer portal. Player by player, we’ll take a look at each addition in our “transfer portal spotlight” series.
Today: Markus Burton
Previously: Jaeden Mustaf, Darren Harris
Bio: 6-foot, 190-pound guard from Mishawaka, Indiana
Previous school: Notre Dame (2023-2026, three seasons)
Career stats: 19.1 points, 3.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 33.2 minutes per game over three seasons. Burton is a career 43.8 percent shooter from the field, a 33.2 percent 3-point shooter and an 84.7 percent free-throw shooter.
Career accolades: 2023-24 ACC rookie of the year, 2023-24 third team All-ACC, 2023-24 ACC all-freshman team, four-time ACC rookie of the week in 2023-24, 2024-25 second team All-ACC, 2025-26 preseason first team All-ACC, 2025-26 Naismith Trophy watch list, 2025-26 Bob Cousy Award watch list and 2025-26 Wooden Award watch list
Recruitment background
The 2023 Indiana Mr. Basketball from Penn, Burton earned a scholarship offer from Darian DeVries when he was at Drake. Burton, the No. 169 player nationally in the 2023 class per the 247Sports Composite rankings, chose Notre Dame, where he immediately stepped into a significant role.
Over 69 career games for the Fighting Irish, Burton tallied 1,315 points, 259 assists, 232 rebounds and 123 steals under Micah Shrewsberry and made 68 starts. He scored in double figures in 63 games for the Fighting Irish and was a star in his first two years before his third season, the 2025-26 campaign, was cut short by an injury.
After Notre Dame again missed the NCAA tournament last spring, Burton was one of several members of the program to enter the transfer portal. He took a visit to Houston and then visited IU and a commitment followed shortly after that trip.
“I felt like a lot of the schools that I was in contact with, we had a similar relationship,” Burton told Field of 68 recently. “But what Indiana stood out to me was Coach DeVries, he offered me, he was my first offer out of high school when he was at Drake. So like the relationships goes, it goes way back. And I really like what he’s been doing at Indiana. I like what he’s done in the past. And I believe he can get me to a level where people probably didn’t see I could play at. But like I said, it’s just been all, it was all a good decision for me in the relationship type of thing.”
Eligibility-wise, the hope is that Burton will have two seasons of eligibility remaining, as he only played in 10 games last season at Notre Dame. However, if “5-in-5” passes, he won’t need a medical redshirt and will have two seasons of eligibility in Bloomington.
Notes on his game
Indiana recruited Burton to be its starting point guard and a focal point of the offense. While scoring was the primary focus for the former Mr. Basketball during his time at Notre Dame, he’s also a capable distributor.
As a freshman for the Fighting Irish, Burton posted an assist rate of 35 percent, ranking 20th nationally. In ACC games, his assist rate in the 2023-24 season of 37.6 percent was the second-highest in the conference.
At Indiana, Burton will have his ball in his hands and DeVries said recently that one of the things he likes about Burton is his ability to score in late shot clock situations. He also has a strong mid-range game and won’t hesitate to take the 15-foot shot against teams that defend him with drop coverage.
Defensively, Burton competes hard and has very good quickness, but he will give up size and strength to many Big Ten point guards. He’s posted strong steal numbers over his career and can help generate some turnovers that lead to transition baskets.
Burton continues to work his way back from a foot injury that ended his junior season last December and he recently said that his recovery is going “really well.”
Scouting report
“Burton is a small-but-lethal lead guard scorer who excels at creating his own shot. His junior season was cut short by injury after just 10 games, but as a sophomore, he averaged 23.5 PPG in ACC play on 44.5 percent shooting from the field (40.2 percent from deep) en route to a second team All-ACC slot. He’s outstanding in both pick-and-roll (87th percentile in efficiency as a scorer, per Synergy) and isolation (90th percentile).
“He is especially effective off the bounce, cashing in on pull-ups at excellent rates for two straight years. In ball screens, his numbers dip noticeably when opponents force him to be a passer, but that could say more about his Notre Dame teammates, as he does show some impressive reads. At his smaller stature, he can really struggle if the defense hedges hard with length. Burton’s size makes him a target defensively at times. He plays hard and has solid instincts, and he actually grades out well via defensive analytics (97th percentile in DRAPM, per CBB Analytics). But opponents can go at him in targeted mismatches or via switches.” – The Athletic
Markus Burton highlights
Markus Burton shot chart
(Photo credit: Markus Burton on Instagram)
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