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On Tuesday afternoon, Marquette Men's Basketball tweeted the following:
Deonte Burton & John Dawson departing #mubb program at conclusion of semester/finals week (Dec. 14) & will transfer.
— MarquetteMBB (@MarquetteMBB) December 9, 2014
Well. That's a bit of a stunner. Dawson has played four minutes this season, all in the first half of the season opener against Tennessee-Martin, so that's not terribly surprising.
Burton, on the other hand, was expected to be a star for Marquette this season. Given Marquette's lack of experience and his offensive efficiency in limited minutes during his freshman campaign, Burton was pegged as a potential breakout player by pretty much anyone with a calculator or insight into Marquette hoops. But, for whatever reason, he never got it together for Steve Wojciechowski. Burton came off the bench in all eight of MU's games and averaged 16.1, but only 6.4 points and 1.6 rebounds.
Wojciechowski said the following in a statement: "We appreciate all that Deonte and John have contributed to the program since our staff arrived in April. We will do everything we can to help them make the next step in their respective careers and wish them nothing but the best in the future."
Marquette will have just eight players eligible to play for the remainder of the season after Luke Fischer becomes eligible following the end of the first semester. Wally Ellenson is still redshirting this season, but this does open the door for Wojo to take on one mid-semster transfer on a scholarship, as well as potentially more if they want to pay their way second semester. Marquette now has three open scholarships for the fall of 2015.