Butler vs. Florida not classic David-Goliath

The Bulldogs are not picked to win, but ...
LOS ANGELES TIMES
ST. LOUIS -- A.J. Graves is a 155-pound guard from an Indiana town of barely 300 people. But as he stood on the court inside the Edward Jones Dome looking around the cavernous arena where his Butler team will pay defending national champion Florida tonight in a Midwest Regional semifinal, he felt strangely at home.
"The basketball goal at our house, behind it was just fields. It was open," he said.
And then he grinned.
"Kind of like a dome."
Credentials
This is the "Hoosiers" story of the NCAA Tournament, never mind that Butler was ranked most of the season and defeated Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Gonzaga to win the preseason National Invitation Tournament.
This is the story of the 6-foot-1 son of a plumber taking on the 6-11 son of a French Open champion.
Florida's Joakim Noah was born in New York, and is as comfortable in Paris as he is in Manhattan.
The only time Graves has ever seen New York, he was there to play in Madison Square Garden.
But don't imagine there's no way in a hundred years Butler could win. Back in 2000, a Butler team whose roster included one of Graves' three brothers, Andrew, took Florida to overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing on a last-second shot.
Florida Coach Billy Donovan has not forgotten. "We do not view Butler as an underdog," he said. "I think that's a perception that gets created.
Perception not reality
"I understand the perception, but the perception is not reality. ... Every quote-unquote power conference they've lined up against, they've beaten."
Graves' hometown of Switz City, Ind., some 45 minutes from Bloomington, Ind., does not have a stoplight or a grocery store.
Out there in the fields, miles from other houses, Graves and his brothers played basketball all day long, and Graves, a junior whose 17-point average leads the Bulldogs, became the runner-up for the coveted Indiana high school title of Mr. Basketball.
Tonight, he'll be trying to make the season last at least another two days.
"I don't feel any pressure. I don't think our team does either," Graves said. "The first two games we weren't picked to win, and we're still not picked to win."
"We're excited. Who wouldn't want to get to play the No. 1 overall seed?"