Albany, N.Y. ? Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson has seen enough to know Butler is no underdog.

Although the Bulldogs are the lowest-seeded team remaining in the NCAA Tournament — No. 12 in the East — and are in the round of 16 for the first time in 41 years, Sampson only had to glance at the brackets Thursday to make his point.

“I can see where Cinderella would beat Mississippi State, but Cinderella doesn’t come back 24 hours later and beat Louisville,” Sampson said, pointing to Butler’s wins over fifth- and fourth-seeded teams in the first two rounds.

“They beat Mississippi State in Birmingham, and that’s in the SEC’s back yard. And they beat Louisville in Birmingham, which is a next-door neighbor. Cinderella doesn’t do those things.”

The Bulldogs, a bunch of kids with crew cuts from a tiny Indianapolis school (enrollment 4,200), know that, too.

“I like that we’re here,” Butler coach Todd Lickliter said. “If people want to label us, that’s fine. You won’t get very far unless you think you can. I would never want the players to sell themselves short.”

Nobody does that anymore. The Bulldogs have become one of the nation’s model mid-major programs, winning at least 20 games each of the last seven seasons. Their 27 wins this season, against just five losses, broke last year’s school record of 25.

Snubbed last year by the tournament selection committee, the Bulldogs have more than left their mark this year. They came from 15 points behind to beat Louisville 79-71, making 14 of 22 three-pointers. And in the first round, they defeated Mississippi State 47-46 on Brandon Miller’s runner in the lane with 6.2 seconds left.

“Talent gets you to the Sweet 16, and that’s what they are, talented,” Oklahoma guard Hollis Price said. “To be where they are today, then they’ve got to have great point guard play. They’ve just got a great team.”

Oklahoma's Hollis Price smiles during practice. The Sooners will play Butler today in Albany, N.Y.

Top-seeded Oklahoma (26-6) is two steps from its second straight Final Four appearance. Today’s winner meets either Syracuse or Auburn Sunday at Pepsi Arena for a berth in New Orleans.

If the Sooners have a worry for this game, it’s Price, who is recovering from a tear in his left groin he sustained in the Big 12 Conference championship game. They made it through the first two rounds without much production from him.

Price, who averages 19 points, took just one shot, a three-pointer that he made, in 11 minutes against South Carolina State and followed that with five points in 30 minutes against California. He struggled to move laterally on defense and was used mostly as a decoy on offense.

Price had a wide smile Thursday and said he was 99.9 percent healthy. That’s what Butler was expecting.

“We’re not concerned with his condition,” Lickliter said. “We assume he’ll be 100 percent, and we know how dangerous he is. To not prepare that way would not be wise.”

Experience usually factors into wins at this stage of the season, and that makes Butler especially dangerous. Guards Darnell Archey and Miller, center Joel Cornette, and forward Lewis Curry are all seniors — and they all start.