INDIANAPOLIS — Yes, we all know the glass slipper probably doesn’t fit Butler anymore and “Hoosiers” was about as accurate as a supermarket tabloid. Butler has won 25 in a row. It’s 33-4. It started the season ranked 11th and finished the regular season ranked 11th.
But before we put Butler and Duke (34-5) on the same court for tonight’s colossal national title game, keep in mind the court may be level, but the programs are not.
How tilted is it toward Duke? Only their success levels this season are even.
According to Basketball State, a college hoops statistical website, Duke’s annual basketball budget is $13.87 million, by far the highest in the country. That’s nearly $4 million more than Marquette’s, which is the next highest.
Butler? Try $1.7 million. That’s ranked 142nd, just behind Marshall and just ahead of Santa Clara. It’s less than half of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s $4 million salary.
Top-seeded Duke has six McDonald’s All-Americans; fifth-seeded Butler has 11 all-staters. Duke flies charter every game; Butler has flown charter three times this season. Duke seeks its fourth national title under Krzyzewski; Butler is in its first Final Four.
Krzyzewski, 63, has the most recognizable face in the game; Butler coach Brad Stevens, 33, looks like the guy you ordered a Big Mac from last week. Butler point guard Ronald Nored, the son of a minister who died at 43, was freshman class president last year. During player introductions, the Bulldogs players go pat a live bulldog on the head, for crying out loud.
Butler center Matt Howard may not even play because of a mild concussion.
Team inspiration
David vs. Goliath? This is better. It is Muncie Central vs. Milan High School. Butler even has the goofy-looking rural Indiana kid in Gordon Hayward, who can hit the game-winning buzzer beater, just as Milan’s Bobby Plump did to beat mighty Muncie Central in 1954. It’s the shot that launched a hit Hollywood movie and a million metaphors.
“Every year, you get inspired by groups that come together that are certainly willing to put aside their individual talent for the betterment of the team,” Stevens said Sunday. “If that can be the inspiration, then we are really honored to carry that flag.”
Stevens himself has been an inspiration. The hometown kid has already beaten Jim Boeheim and Tom Izzo and could add Krzyzewski to a triad of Hall of Fame victims. Even Stevens is a little awed by it all.
“They write books,” he said, “and I get to read them.”
Krzyzewski said he has already put in an order for Stevens’ unwritten tome, and the nation may join the book club too. Outside of a little enclave surrounding Durham, N.C., every American tonight will be looking for a bulldog to pat. Imagine what it will be like in 71,000-seat Lucas Oil Stadium, only 6 miles from Butler’s campus, with Michigan State and West Virginia fans seeking another team to support.
Think it will be Duke? Tonight, that’s like rooting for U.S. Steel.
“One of my teammates pulled up on his phone from ESPN a visual map showing who everybody wanted to win,” said Hayward, who got mobbed for autographs at church Sunday. “The whole country was blue, which is our color. That’s kind of cool.”
It’s Duke’s color too, but it’s darker, in image if not in shade. This matchup has developed a good vs. evil tint. It’s ludicrous considering Duke’s blank NCAA police blotter and a nearly perfect graduation rate.
But it harks back to a time of dominance when the country flat out got tired of Duke. In last week’s Indianapolis Star, a cartoonist superimposed a devil’s facial features onto Krzyzewski’s picture.
Krzyzewski wasn’t happy — “If we’re going to be despised or hated by anybody because we go to school and we want to win,” he said, “that’s your problem” — and the Star issued an apology.
Love-hate relationship
The Duke hate-o-meter dipped during the Blue Devils’ five-season absence from the Final Four, but its march through March has rekindled some old bad blood. Krzyzewski, in his 30th season at Duke, understands.
“People wouldn’t take the shots at us that they do if we were a state school, because the people of that state wouldn’t like it, and there would be a filter there,” Krzyzewski said. “And there’s no filter for us, or at Notre Dame. So if we’re going to be really good, we’re going to get that because there’s nobody to hold anybody accountable before you even start talking.”
The Bulldogs’ lone disadvantage of playing here is they’ll be the first team in modern history to attend class during the day and play for a national title that night. Hayward has four classes today. Nored, an elementary education major, is scheduled to teach math and reading at a local elementary school from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
It’s Butler. It’s different. These teams are different. That makes tonight very different. How wonderful.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
Duke vs. Butler
Tipoff: 7:21 p.m. tonight, KCNC-4
No. 1 Blue Devils: 34-5 No. 5 Bulldogs: 33-4
Key matchup:
Butler F Gordon Hayward vs. Duke F Kyle Singler
They’re part of the college game’s new breed: 6-foot-8 “forwards” who have guard skills. Hayward leads four Bulldogs in double-digit scoring, averaging 15.6 points. But if center Matt Howard (11.6) can’t play because of a mild concussion, Hayward will have to pick up more of the scoring. Singler, like all the Blue Devils, is a terrific defender. He held West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler to 2-for-8 shooting Saturday and is more comfortable guarding taller players than smaller, quicker shooting guards.
Up high:
Butler’s Ronald Nored is quick and smart, but the 6-foot point guard will have trouble against Duke’s 6-2 Nolan Smith. Butler guard Shelvin Mack is averaging 16 points in the NCAA Tournament but at 6-3 will also give up a couple of inches to Jon Scheyer, Duke’s leading scorer. Scheyer loves the shooting background at Lucas Oil Stadium and may have ended his shooting slump. Smith, meanwhile, has been hot, hitting 16-of-33 shots in his last two games (8-of-15 from 3-point range).
Down low:
Losing Howard would be devastating to Butler. He ranks second to Hayward in rebounding (5.2 average) and third in scoring. In his place would be 6-8 Avery Jukes, a lanky senior averaging only 2.7 points. Duke’s front line goes 7-1, 6-8, 6-8. Butler’s is 6-9, 6-8, 6-3. Duke’s is just as quick. Brian Zoubek has gone from a mere 7-1 body to a major defensive and rebounding force inside.
Injuries:
While Duke is healthy, Butler kept Howard under observation Sunday. Butler coach Brad Stevens said his big concern with Howard, who was injured Saturday, “is No. 1, his health.” Mack thinks Howard will play tonight. “He probably needs to be dead (to miss the NCAA champ- ionship game),” Mack said.
Quotable:
“I think we definitely have to take advantage of our size on both sides of the court, really bother them when they get into the lane on defense. Taking charges, blocking shots, defensive rebounding. Then really hitting the offensive glass, trying to establish a little bit more of post scoring this game.”
— Brian Zoubek, Duke center
John Henderson, The Denver Post
