BARELY was the National Basketball League championship trophy safely in the hands of Melbourne United's joyously victorious players and coaches at Hisense Arena on Easter Saturday night that opposition teams began plotting their downfall.
United swept all before it this NBL season, deservedly claiming the crown after an ultimately dominant regular season before outlasting a determined, brave and downright tough Adelaide 36ers outfit that punched (figuratively, and some may say, literally) as hard as it could and only just fell short of an upset victory.
United parlayed its cavalcade of stars - US players Josh Boone, Casper Ware Jr and Casey Prather (and his stand-in Carrick Felix) as well as talented Australian players including Finals MVP Chris Goulding and veteran David Andersen - into a cohesive unit that combined electric offensive wizardry with some gritty defensive nous, all helmed by the reigning coach of the year in Dean Vickerman.
Throw in a plethora of secondary and backup players who all knew and played their role to perfection and United had enough to overcome the similarly motivated 36ers.
Adelaide, led by the lion-hearted Mitch Creek and ably supported by the likes of Daniel Johnson, Nathan Sobey and imports Josh Childress, Shannon Shorter and Ramone Moore, were a delight to watch, pushing the tempo at every opportunity and relishing whatever spite and scuffle might come their way.
How other teams try to combat the firepower of both Melbourne and Adelaide next season will be fascinating to watch.
And interestingly, it will be equally as fascinating to see how many people watch.
It was a season of success, not just for United and the 36ers, but for the league as a whole, which made great strides in re-entering the consciousness of the casual sports fan who in previous years may have eschewed the NBL for various reasons, not least of which was the barely discernible promotion of the product.
But under the auspices of league owner Larry Kestelman, the NBL has done a superb job of promoting itself, from the historic pre-season games against NBA teams to ensuring a much more prominent broadcast media presence, even if that was at a cost to the bottom line.
The question now is, where to from here?
On the back of record attendance numbers, expansion is obviously the priority ahead of the next broadcast rights deal, which in itself is a golden opportunity for the NBL to fully reap the good work it has sown over the past few seasons since Kestelman's ascension as league owner.
A second Melbourne team looms large, with AFL clubs, reportedly including Essendon, Collingwood, and Hawthorn all eyeing the commercial potential of an FC Barcelona model with various sports teams under the one club umbrella.
To further complicate that model, reports have emerged that at least three Melbourne-based AFL clubs have approached the Hobart Chargers of the South East Australian Basketball League about fielding a Tasmanian team in the NBL.
Just how that would work remains to be seen but the Apple Islanders are just as keen to have an NBL presence as they are to be included in the AFL competition.
The last time the NBL was in such opportune times, the league failed to fully capitalise, with various missteps almost sinking the competition beyond salvage.
It seems that Kestelman and co are determined to not repeat the blunders of administrations past.
The fans voted with their feet. Let's see if they, and United, can repeat the feat.
TEAM OF THE YEAR:
G- Casper Ware Jr (MEL): Just a phenomenal season from go to whoa. Took the reins of the most explosive offence in the league and quarterbacked it superbly. Would not look out of place as a backup playmaker in the NBA.
G- Bryce Cotton (PER): The reigning Most Valuable Player, Cotton averaged 19.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game to claim the Andrew Gaze Trophy by a wide margin.
F- Demitrius Conger (ILL): Runner-up to Cotton for MVP, Conger was the brightest of a very few shining lights for the disappointing Hawks, who missed the NBL postseason for the first time in three seasons.
F- Mitch Creek (ADL): Fellow 36er Daniel Johnson made the All-NBL First Team over Creek but in reality, Adelaide's combative captain was the ignition system for their run all the way to the deciding fifth game of the championship series.
C- Josh Boone (MEL): The cornerstone of United's ultimately successful title ambitions. At various points of the season Melbourne would have been utterly lost without his active presence at both ends of the floor.
Coach: Who else could it be? Dean Vickerman arrived at Melbourne with a richly-deserved reputation as one of the best coaching minds in the NBL. He then went out and turned a previously under-achieving United into a juggernaut that deservedly claimed the NBL crown.