In the summer of 2022, then rising high school senior guard Markus Burton put on a dazzling display at the Charlie Hughes tournament at Carmel H.S. in Carmel, Ind.
In front of several college coaches there mostly to watch others, Burton carved-up Indianapolis powerhouse Cathedral with a 35-point outburst.
It was clear at that moment — with his ability to navigate traffic and score efficiently over length — Burton had an elite skillset that would translate to the top of college basketball.
But at most 6-foot tall, there was still some skepticism among the high major head coaches and assistants mainly there to watch Cathedral 5-star Xavier Booker.
That afternoon I asked an IU assistant who was there watching what people were saying about Burton. He said Burton would probably start at the mid-major level — and then laughed as he acknowledged Indiana and others would likely be trying to recruit him out of the transfer portal in a couple years.
He was half right.
Burton was on mid-major path at that point in the summer of 2022. But then Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey was one of those coaches in the gym at Carmel, and he followed up with Burton’s lone high-major offer a month later.
Burton would of course commit to Notre Dame and play at the campus just eight miles from his high school (Penn H.S., Mishawaka, Ind.).
But a few years later, Burton did indeed enter the transfer portal, and this time he had plenty of high major interest — including of course Indiana.
While the prior IU staff wasn’t ready to offer Burton in 2022, current Indiana coach Darian DeVries was already involved four years ago.
And just a couple weeks after that performance in Carmel, DeVries gave Burton what he says was his first Division I offer.
After a great conversation with coach @Coach_DeVries I’m blessed to receive a division 1 offer from drake university pic.twitter.com/Pxla7BZxzR
— markus burton (@markussburton) July 9, 2022
And as it turned out, when Burton entered the transfer portal this spring, relationships were top of mind, and there was familiarity when talking to IU.
“I go through the process, hear all these coaches, hear what they have to pitch and hear what they have to offer. But with me it was more like a relate thing, like I can relate to you. I can talk to you about things other than basketball all the time,” Burton told Jeff Goodman on the Field of 68 podcast.
That early offer from DeVries still stands out to Burton.
And it still has Burton believing DeVries sees something in his potential others don’t.
“I felt like a lot of the schools that I was in contact with, we had a similar relationship. But with Indiana what stood out to me was coach Coach DeVries. He was my first offer out of high school when he was at Drake. So like really the relationships 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.”
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