It’s been a tough year for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball team. Micah Shrewsberry’s second squad was supposed to be good enough to at least compete for some kind of postseason. However, another losing record and struggles down the stretch frustrated fans. However, those same fans did get some good news this week.
Markus Burton returns to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish
After a couple weeks of transfer portal announcements, Notre Dame basketball received some very good news. Star point guard and ACC leading scorer Markus Burton will return to South Bend for his junior year. It was first reported by Jonathan Givony who is an NBA Draft Analyst for ESPN, who spoke to Burton's agent at Octagon.
Burton’s announcement, for the second straight year, is like going into the portal and pulling back one of the best players in the country. Last season at this time, he was checking out his NBA Draft prospects but returned. This year, the flirting with the pros was shorter.
This past season, Burton averaged 21.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball loses four
Olivia Miles might have been the biggest entry into the transfer portal but she’s far from the only one departing the Fighting Irish. Kylee Watson is the latest Notre Dame women's basketball player to enter the transfer portal. The 6-5 center is looking for a fresh start after missing all season.
She’s the fourth player from Niele Ivey’s latest squad to announce she’s transferring. Olivia Miles, junior guard Emma Risch and sophomore center Kate Koval (who was expected to be a big part of the 2025-26 season) are all gone.
Jared Dawson the disruptor
“He's a disruptor, man,” Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington told ND Insider. “He's explosive, powerful. That was the thing that I liked about his game. And he plays with a motor and an edge. Those are the things that I think he showed in a game against us because our (offensive) line is arguably the best.”
Jared Dawson is raising coaches’ eyebrows this spring. They think he could be a asset on the defensive line as the unit regroups under a new coordinator.