Butler is an underdog, but not exactly a David

Can we stop with all this David vs. Goliath talk?

Its too easy. Its like comparing Butler to the Hoosiers movie, or making Kentucky-Cornell out to be a battle between good and evil.

Depending on what you have read this morning, you are guaranteed to have seen someone compare Butler to Villanova's 1985 title team or NC State's 1983 title team. You have probably seen someone write that a Butler national title would be a momentous upset, that the Bulldogs have a chance to be the little guy that takes down the evil empire.

Is this a national title team?
(photo credit: Getty Images)

Duke has six McDonald's all-americans. 10 of the players on Butler's roster are native Hoosiers.

Duke spent almost $400,000 per player this year, while Butler's entire program had a budget of less than $350,000.

Duke is playing for their fourth national title under Coack K, while Butler hails from the Horizon League.

Like I said, its too easy.

Embrace the cliche!

Butler may be a mid-major program, but calling them a David is an insult to what this team has accomplished this season. The Bulldogs have a better record than Duke, and did so playing a tougher non-conference schedule. While Butler did lose to Minnesota and UAB earlier this season, they also beat Ohio State and Xavier, have won 25 straight games, and knocked off Syracuse, Kansas State, and Michigan State to reach the finals.

Butler was a top 15 team in the preseason, and a top 15 team at the end of the year. This is a very, very good basketball team, and even those of us who doubted them during the year (me!) have been forced to eat our words.

On top of that, this Duke team is far from great. This isn't one of Coach K's top five teams. They were embarrassed by Georgetown and NC State during the year. Many believed that this was by far the weakest #1 seed heading into the tournament.

Hell, Butler isn't even that big of an underdog. Depending on where you look, Duke is favored by 6.5 points of 7 points. Georgetown was a 9 points favorite in 1985. Houston was favored by 8 points over NC State in 1983. Even Michigan State was a bigger dog last season to North Carolina than Butler is this year.

I'm not denying the fact that Butler is an underdog. I'm not saying that it isn't a great story that they have made it this far. I'll even go as far as to say that this played out like a story book. Seriously, if you were going to make a movie based on this Butler team, who would you pick to be the team that they played in the final? Duke, right?

But no matter how this plays out, remember that Butler deserves to be here. This isn't George Mason's run to the Final Four. This isn't a middle of the pack major conference team.

Butler is a very good basketball team.

They just happen to hail from the Horizon League.