ATLANTA -- Again and again and again they come, the improbable Indiana Hoosiers who surprised Oklahoma, the rest of the world and even, perhaps, themselves Saturday.

"This is just unbelievable," said coach Mike Davis.

No kidding, but welcome to the Fairy Tale, chapter five. Bring on the next favorite.

Mike Davis, with Jeff Newton (left) and Jared Jeffries, has coached Indiana to its sixth national title game. (AP)

If you never wanted to believe in Indiana, join the club. But believe it now, because as sure as Jimmy Chitwood can shoot, the Hoosiers are 40 minutes from a sixth national championship. If there is anyone not wearing red and white who thought that was possible months, weeks -- heck, even hours ago -- then they better have it in writing.

The Indiana Hoosiers are playing on Monday, playing for it all, playing for history, playing for destiny. The team that wasn't supposed to be here (or even there last week), the team with the coach who isn't supposed to be the coach with the players who aren't supposed to be this good are 40 minutes from being crowned the best.

Even if everyone's been waiting for them to go home all season.

But there it was Saturday, another scoreboard that told the truth (IU 73, OU 64) and an absolutely delirious Hoosiers cheering section inside the Georgia Dome that suddenly can't imagine anything but glory is on the way.

Once again the opponent, Oklahoma, was bigger, faster, more explosive, more experienced, more whatever you want. Just like Duke. And just like the Blue Devils the Sooners will be watching the NCAA final wondering just how this could have happened.

How does Indiana win when Jared Jeffries scores two baskets and Tom Coverdale one?

How does reserve big man Jeff Newton have a career-high 19 points and foul out the Sooners' best player, Aaron McGhee, in the process?

How does Dane Fife lock up Hollis Price, forcing OU's leading scorer into a 1-for-11, six-point evening?

How does Donald Perry, the once shaky freshman guard, get 10 points in 11 minutes, most of them down the stretch when Davis benched Coverdale for getting into it with an official and Price?

You bench your starter and go with the freshman to send a message then?

"He lost his composure on the floor," said Davis. "It wasn't time for that."

How the heck does a program rise from the ashes of the Bob Knight saga and, 18 months later, behind a coach who freely admits he doesn't have it all figured out, shock the nation and advance to the national championship game?

"It's the players who play," said Davis. "Sometimes I don't say a word and they go out and play their butts off. In basketball coaches get too much credit. I think I've proven that this year. I'm a second-year coach with no experience.

"Sometimes I have no idea what's going on on the court," he said. "No idea. It's true."

It is all so Hoosier true right now, this amazing, wonderful, improbable run of magic that will have the throngs of Indiana fans who descended on the South dancing in the streets all night. And it will be the magic that will have IU going into Monday's game as a decided underdog (again) against a talented, balanced, smartly coached No. 1 seed in Maryland.

Everyone has been waiting for the stroke of midnight to end the IU dream for weeks. But once again the fairy tale adds another chapter, the epic ride goes on, and the clock gets turned back another 40 minutes at the Hoosier ball.

That's because you can forget the 11 losses and the No. 5 seed and the uncommon manner in which it all came together. The jersey still reads I-N-D-I-A-N-A and that means there is a roster full of players who showed up at or stayed home in Bloomington who don't believe they are anyone's second best.

This is a program that is about winning championships and the players know it. Or put it this way: Indiana is 40 minutes from making Mike Davis a national championship coach. Just like Bob Knight.

"It's not about me," said Davis. "It's about Indiana. Indiana is bigger than anyone, anything."

Maybe Davis does truly believe this is all possible, but he has a funny way of showing it sometimes. He obviously loves these kids but he, too, is surprised at every turn. Maybe it's because he spent most of his career coaching in the CBA, but he doesn't act like all the other coaches who show up here. Before the tip at both halves he took a moment to wink at the media seated behind the IU bench.

In the last minute of the biggest victory of his career he was asking around for a piece of gum. Six minutes left and he's cracking a joke with A.J. Moye. Eight minutes left and he looks darn near ready to faint from the stress.

And they called Knight unpredictably emotional.

Then there was the time with 30 seconds left that he was sitting on the bench with his head in his hands. Davis said he was thanking God. Fife thought he might be crying.

"I didn't know what he was doing," said Fife, who went over and shouted in his ear. "I said, 'Coach get your head up, we're going to the national championship game.'"

Davis looked up and started beaming. He too was finally ready to believe.