Everybody loves it when the underdog climbs from the canvas to slug the champ.
The Otago Nuggets could be that sort of Cinderella story this year. The franchise has undergone a transformation in the last few years from basket case to a team which actually looks capable of scoring a few baskets.
With a potential starting five featuring four past or present Tall Blacks and impressive American centre Antoine Tisby - the league's No 1 ranked player last season - the Nuggets could break their 16-year playoff drought.
But a roster full of hardened campaigners is no guarantee of success - just look at the Highlanders' record in the Super 15 this season.
That said, Nuggets fans have cause for genuine excitement. Heaven knows those loyal supporters deserve a team capable of delivering a winning season.
The last decade or so has not been kind to the Nuggets. From 2005 to 2008, they won just nine of 72 games and collected four consecutive wooden spoons.
The franchise hit new lows off the court as well. The team trashed a hotel room in 2005 and in 2008 two players were suspended after testing positive for cannabis. Basketball Otago lacked direction and the overall picture then was one of dysfunction.the words ''beleaguered'' and ''Nuggets'' appeared side by side in this newspaper so often, a former assistant coach asked whether beleaguered was the new naming-rights sponsor.
Rock-bottom came in December 2008, when Basketball Otago decided to pull the team out of the league, citing a lack of willingness to keep the cash-strapped franchise afloat.
An 11th hour bid to save the Nuggets by concerned members of the basketball community failed and the Nuggets missed the 2009 season.
There was some bloodletting at the annual general meeting and the board which emerged was more committed to ensuring the region was represented in the National Basketball League.
The Nuggets re-entered the league under coach Alf Arlidge in 2010 but financial concerns held the campaign back.
The roster was painfully weak. The team felt and played like a high school team. Tisby picked up a foot injury and was cut after six games. The Nuggets lost all 18 games that season and the losing streak, which had stretched back to April 2008, grew to a staggering 33 games.
American Lance Allred, one of the more fascinating characters to play for the Nuggets over the years, and former Tall Black Craig Bradshaw combined to help the Nuggets snap the dismal run with a home win against the Manawatu Jets in May 2011.
Coach Arlidge was photographed dancing a jig. It was just such a relief for everybody who had been part of or witnessed possibly the longest losing streak in elite New Zealand sport.
Bradshaw's decision to sign for the franchise, in hindsight, was the beginning of the turnaround. Until he put ink to paper, the Nuggets had really struggled to recruit players of his calibre. His vote of confidence helped path the way for others.
But, arguably, no-one has had a bigger hand in turning the Nuggets around than former Tall Blacks point guard Mark Dickel.
When Dickel signed on last year, he immediately went to work assembling a more competitive roster. He inspired BJ Anthony and Leon Henry to take a chance on the Nuggets. Anthony was sidelined with an injury but is fit and expected to make a big impact this season.
Henry has been replaced by veteran swingman Brendon Polyblank. Tall Blacks shooting guard Hayden Allen has returned to the fold after a nine-year absence and American Akeem Wright is returning for a second stint.
It is an impressive roster but the Wellington Saints, Nelson Giants and Hawkes Bay Hawks also boast formidable line-ups, and the Manawatu Jets and Southland Sharks will fancy their chances.
There is no guarantee this team will reach the playoffs. But, for the first time in the nine years I have been covering the Nuggets, there is an expectation that they should.
That is already a win for a team which had become a punchline.
