Don't Call Me Cinderella

Underdog? Sure. Overmatched? Maybe. Cinderella? Absolutely not.

The most uttered phrase from the National Championship game between Butler and Duke was "cinderella." The problem? Butler is not a cinderella team. Sure, are they from a "mid-major" conference? Yes, asbolutely. But are they a team nobody heard about before the start of the season? No, not at all.

Butler started the season ranked 10th in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and 11th in the Associated Press Poll. So a team that began the season in the top ten is a surprise contestant in the national championship game? Please. I know writers everywhere are searching for great story-lines, but what many people lose is perspective. Many people in this day and age label every game they watch as a "David versus Goliath" match-up or as "the best game ever."

By saying that a team ranked in the top eleven of both national pre-season polls is a cinderella is to say that any team no ranked #1 in the pre-season poll is a cinderella. A simple math quiz; If Butler is number eleven, how many teams in the country would NOT be the underdog when matched up against Butler? Class... Bueller... Gooooood, ten, ten is the answer. That means all but ten teams are the underdog when going up against Butler.

I know what you're saying, "But that's the pre-season poll, they mean nothing... Hell, UNC was ranked sixth in the pre-season." Good point. But, pray tell, where was Duke ranked in those same pre-season polls? Eight in the ESPN/USA Today, ten in the AP... right in front of Tennessee and West Virginia, respectively. Where did those two end up, one losing in the last second in the Elite Eight and the other losing to Duke in the Final Four. And they say pre-season polls do not mean anything.

Butler... Great story, tough team, great defense, atrocious offense for the most part, but in the words of DMX, "what's my name?" Bulldog? Mid-Major, Underdog? Sure, but stay away from Cinderella.