It is being billed as David vs Goliath, but really, it is not. Butler is nearly as good. Butler was ranked in the top-12 for most of the year, has the longest current winning streak in the nation, has beaten a one-seed and a two-seed, and then finished off the most resourceful team led by the most resourceful coach. They have not allowed an opponent to score more than 60 points since Valentine's Day. They are a damn good basketball team. Arguably every bit as good as Duke. No, its not David vs Goliath. However, it is still a matchup worth savoring, and one where Butler is the emotional favorite.
This is Star Wars, this is World War II. The Blue Devils are the Galactic Empire, the Axis Powers. The Butler Bulldogs are the New Hope, the last team that can knock out the evil Dukies. As Deadspin put it, it is the perfect matchup. Half the country is wants Butler to win, and the other half wants Duke to go down in a fiery inferno. Although the cast of characters has changed, and the hated elitists that used to lace it up for Duke are gone, they are still as bombastic, as arrogant and as hateful as ever. And Butler is the perfect foil.
Everyone should want Butler to win this game. Partly, because it is a great story, partly because, well, its Duke going down, and finally because Duke doesn't deserve it. This was an interesting year in college basketball. There really were no great teams. Kansas was the closest, but their disastrous loss ended any hope of the 2010 champs entering the same league as the '07 Gators, '08 Jayhawks or '09 Tar Heels. The 2010 Champ is not going to be an all time great, it is not going to be a memorable team, so why have it be Duke? The perfect way to end this eventful, up and down season would be a mid-major winning it all. The only way the 2010 season would be remembered 10 years from now would be if this was "the year that the mid-major won it all." Especially with this possibly being the last year of the 64 team tournament, the nice way to end the legacy of the 64 team tournament, the one that saw the NCAA Tournament reach stratostrophic heights, is to have the ultimate underdog beat the team that has dominated college basketball for the last 20 years. It has to happen.
Butler is a team that could define this season, and this tournament. In their hometown of Indianapolis, the capital city of a state whose citizens are born into a culture of basketball hoops nailed onto barnhouse walls, the Bulldogs can win the Butler way, the right way. They play tight man to man defense, the close out open shooters, they pass the ball, they shoot Js perfectly, they hit free throws, taking advantage of the free points available. The Butler way can conquer the Duke way, and mainly because the Duke way is not that great. Sure, they smashed West Virginia in a thoroughly impressive display, but that was about as good as Duke can play. They just cannot shoot that good again. Butler is good enough to put a hand up on every single shot, pressure Scheyer and co. into mistakes. It is possible, it can be done. Duke is a tough team, an experienced team, but not a great team. Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer and Shane Battier are not walking through that door, Scheyer and Singler are. Hayward and company can do it. They have to do it, they will do it, the Butler way.
