No "Hickory" Here

With Butler making a surprise run to the Final Four, the comparisons to Hoosiers and Cinderella labels were to be expected. However, for the basketball fans of Indianapolis that have watched this program over the past four years, they know that this Butler program isn't your average Tourney darling. Here are five reasons why Butler shouldn't be put in the same boat as the George Masons of the past:

1) Pollsters giving props
Butler was ranked #10 in the 2009-10 preseason AP Top 25 poll and #11 in the final regular season poll three weeks ago. They've cracked the top 11 in the rankings in each of the past four seasons with highs of #9 (2006-07), #8 (2007-08), #11 (2008-09), and #10 (2009-10). Only three teams have spent more weeks in the Top 25 over that span: North Carolina, Kansas, and Duke.

2) Marquee wins
Take a look at some of the programs Butler has beaten in the past four seasons: #4 Syracuse (2010), #6 Kansas State (2010), #12 Xavier (2008), #15 Ohio State (2009), #21 Tennessee (2006), #22 Maryland (2007), #24 Gonzaga (2006) - not too shabby. Also, say what you want about the Horizon League, but winning 62 of 70 regular season games against Conference opponents is quite an accomplishment.

3) Record-wise
20-win seasons used to be the mark of excellence in college basketball. But, with the boom in preseason tournaments, 30 wins is considered the new "elite" benchmark. Over the past four seasons, the Bulldogs have averaged 30 wins per season (30-5 overall). Brad Stevens, who is in his third year at the helm, has won 88 of the 102 games (86%) in his short career. If you want to go back even further, Butler has won at least 20 games in 12 of the past 14 seasons, eclipsing the 25-win mark six different times.

4) Making it happen in March
The Final Four may be a new horizon (no pun intended) for Butler, but success in the NCAA Tournament is nothing new. Since 2001, the Dogs are 10-5 in the Tourney, going 5-1 in First Round games (a four-point loss to 8-seed LSU in 2009 the only blemish), taking two trips to the Sweet 16 (2003, 2007), and now the Final Four. Something else worth noting is that Butler has never lost to a lower-seeded team - that's something that Gonzaga has done four times since 2002.

5) Power of Personnel
No offense to A.J. Graves and Avery Sheets, but the overall talent level at Butler is night-and-day compared to what it was just five years ago. Matt Howard was ranked among the Top 100 players nationally by Rivals.com and held offers from Indiana, Purdue, and Xavier among others. Gordon Hayward was coveted by Purdue and Michigan. Shelvin Mack drew attention from Miami (FL) and UAB. Six players on the current Butler roster were rated three-stars or higher by most recruiting services. The Bulldogs don't have to find hidden gems in White River Valley any longer.