American Kevin Braswell says he realising more and more what an achievement it would be for a New Zealand club to win a major Australian sporting title.
No New Zealand team has achieved the feat, be it in rugby league, netball or basketball.
Braswell and the New Zealand Breakers are favourites to end that drought as they head into the Australian National Basketball League playoffs as top seeds.
Their best-of-three semifinal against defending champions Perth starts in Auckland on Thursday, with Braswell fresh from being named the ANBL's best sixth man.
But Braswell's gong was the only one the Breakers picked up at the league's annual wards function in Melbourne last night, despite ending the regular season five wins ahead of nearest rivals Townsville.
Among those who missed out were star shooting guard Kirk Penney, who was trumped by Wollongong's Gary Ervin for most valuable player.
Both averaged 20.1 points per game, but the choice of Ervin could be explained by the match-by-match nature of the voting and the American played four more games than Penney.
However, Andrej Lemanis' failure to land the coach of the year award was a surprise, given the Breakers' 22-6 win-loss record.
"I'm understanding it more and more," Braswell said today of New Zealand teams competing in Australia.
"My coach doesn't get coach of the year and he's 22 and six. Kirk Penney doesn't get MVP and he's had the same numbers as Gary Ervin but he's on a winning team."
Alluding to a them-and-us scenario, Braswell added: "Everybody across the water is against us.
"We needed everybody here in New Zealand to be with us, because you see how hard it is for us to win anything over there."
Braswell's individual award comes after a season which he admitted had had its difficulties.
It was the first time in his career where his regular role had been to play off the bench.
"It hasn't been easy, trust me," he said. "I've had my ups and downs."
Braswell impressed during the first half of the season with his ability to help the Breakers close out matches, but conceded that he struggled through February and early March.
However, with the business end of the campaign looming and his body in good shape, he felt like a light bulb had been turned on.
"The last two weeks, I've picked my game up, which I thought would happen," he said. "The only thing now I've got to do is get my turnovers down, but the shots are starting to fall again."
Braswell, 31, was a late-season arrival at the Breakers last year and made an instant impact as the club closed their schedule with a 6-1 record.
While the Breakers are overall 28-7 since he joined them, he said he had to tip his hat to high-quality team-mates he had around him.
Meanwhile, Lemanis played down the fact that he lost out to Townsville's Trevor Gleeson in the voting for top coach.
The prize he was after was the title.
"I would trade in anything for a championship win," Lemanis said.
"There are lots of coaches of the year who are no longer coaches in the league.
"It really has no bearing on pretty much anything. It's all about championships and winning basketball games."
