INDIANAPOLIS -- The reference may be trite, but it's also pretty obvious to Butler basketball coach Brad Stevens heading into tonight's NCAA championship game against Duke.
"I think certainly Duke is Goliath," said Stevens on Easter Sunday. "But that also makes me feel good, (because) David won."
Maybe David versus Goliath will apply when the Bulldogs and Blue Devils tip it off at 9:21 p.m. (CBS) in front of more than 71,000 fans inside Lucas Oil Stadium. Or maybe it won't.
But it's tough to ignore it in light of Duke's three national championships and 11 Final Four appearances under coach Mike Krzyzewski as opposed to Butler's first-ever appearance in both the Final Four and title game.
Especially when the Blue Devils have a bit of a Goliath on their roster in 7-1 senior center Brian Zoubek, who pulled down 10 total rebounds -- five on offense -- in the Dookies' 78-57 rout of West Virginia in Saturday's semifinal.
Couple that with the twin facts that Butler's 6-8 starting center Matt Howard is trying to shake off a mild concussion and the Blue Devils' Big Three of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith combined to score 63 points, dish out 17 assists and hit 12 3-pointers against the Mountaineers, and the Bulldogs' concerns are many.
Duke was so in control against West Virginia that not even a technical foul from Chattanooga native Curtis Shaw midway through the second half could derail the Dookies.
Or as West Virginia coach Bob Huggins lamented late Saturday night, "Those three perimeter guys are terrific. But if you try to do too many things to keep the ball away from them, the other two get loose at the rim. And my experience has been that 7-1 guys outreach 6-6 guys every time."
It's not that simple, of course. Butler hasn't won 25 straight games, held five tourney opponents to an average of 55.2 ppg and overcome shooting just 30 percent from the field in Saturday's 52-50 win over Michigan State without expertly handling opponents of all size and ability levels.
"Coach is going to draw up a game plan no matter what," said 6-9 Gordon Hayward, the Bulldogs' scoring and rebounding leader at 15.5 ppg and 8.2 rebounds. "No matter what happens with Matt, we'll be ready to go. Next person will step up. It won't faze us."
If that's true, Coach K says it's all in the hands.
"Of all the teams I've seen in the tournament, Butler has the most active hands," he said. "My staff says they've scored five times as many points off turnovers as anybody else in the tournament. It's an outstanding defense, and it's that way because of good hands and good help."
Indeed, Butler defeated the Spartans basically because it outscored the Spartans 20-2 in points off turnovers, which was also 40 percent of the Bulldogs' offense.
But Duke has had an opportunistic defense of its own throughout the tournament. They scored 14 such points against West Virginia, 23 in the South Regional final against Baylor, 10 against Purdue, 18 against California and 20 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
"They play with toughness," said Stevens. "I think that's bigger than one player. It's a culture. It's a tradition. It starts at the top with their coach."
Twenty-five years ago, a David of sorts in Villanova shot down a Goliath of sorts in defending national champ Georgetown to deliver one of the most shocking upsets in tournament history.
Said Stevens with a smile, recalling the Wildcats' shooting percentage that night as well as his team's wretched shooting against Michigan State, "I guess if we shoot 78 percent we'll have a better chance than if we shoot 15 for 49."
And they would. But barring that, expect Duke to prevail 65-53.