It seems like only yesterday that the Wollongong Hawks were being mentioned as serious NBL championship contenders.
But the loss of star import Tywain McKee to a season-ending back injury has prompted plenty of basketball followers to not only write off the Hawks' title prospects, but also their chances of finishing in the top four.
Fox Sports commentator Shane Heal believes fourth-placed Wollongong (11-10) will win just two of their final seven games and give up their top-four spot to New Zealand.
Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks But the Hawks have defied the odds all season and are happy to continue fighting from the underdog corner.
While they are no doubt aware they will have to fight every inch of the way to earn an invitation to the post-season, the Hawks are determined to avoid becoming mentally bogged down by the infinite number of potential scenarios which could unfold in the frantic run to the finals.
The only thing that matters right now is a win over second-placed Gold Coast tomorrow night at WIN Entertainment Centre.
"All year it's been about improving and being the best we can be as a team," Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod said.
"As you get to the back end of the competition, the urgency is about getting enough wins to get yourself in the play-offs, and all of a sudden there seems to be an extra pressure on getting a particular result which could get you into the play-offs. But really, that process is something that happens week by week, game by game.
"The main thing for us is to focus on the processes and the challenge at hand. Once those things are done, other things often take care of themselves.
"We can't be the Perth Wildcats, we can't be the Gold Coast Blaze, we've gotta be the Wollongong Hawks.
"The goal for us all year is that we want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season."
The Blaze host Adelaide tonight before travelling to Wollongong.
The Hawks are keen to bounce back after last Friday's 19-point road loss to Melbourne and have had a full week to prepare.
McLeod said this week's lighter schedule - Wollongong have played at least twice per week over the past month - had allowed late-season signing Luke Martin to get to know his new team-mates.
"This has come at a really good time for us because this week has been about bringing Lukey up to speed, so it's been good to have a couple extra days of good practice sessions to try and accelerate his development with our system and hopefully we'll be a lot better for that," he said.
Martin will be with the Hawks for the rest of the season as McKee's replacement.
"We felt it wouldn't be beneficial to the group to go the rest of the season with one point guard," McLeod said.
"Bringing someone in from the (United) States would've added a whole lot of different things to our budget, so we felt this was the best way to go, to bring someone in straight away who was basically ready to go.
"It was a tough thing trying to find someone who could come in and help us straight away, and Luke's proximity in Sydney and his experience were a real plus.
"I coached him at the Wellington Saints (in the New Zealand national league) and we're running similar sort of stuff, so he should be able to pick things up pretty good.
"Luke's a specialist point guard, and having him there means we don't need other players to go back and play the point guard position."
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