Head coach Andreas Kapoulas says the Bristol Flyers are “surprising” everyone so far this season.
The team top the British Basketball League table having won eight of their 11 games.
They are also through to the BBL Cup semi-finals after beating Manchester Giants 95-76 last weekend.
“We were expected to finish bottom of the table, as predicted by three of the BBL experts,” Kapoulas told BBC Radio Bristol.
“I think right now we’re surprising everyone. We’re top of the league and I think we have some hungry young players, but our chemistry is the most important thing.”
The Flyers have never won the BBL championship since being promoted to the franchise in 2014, the same time Kapoulas took over.
They achieved their best finish last season in fourth place, to advance to the play-off semi-finals for the first time.
“It’s great to prove people wrong so far and we have that underdog mentality,” Kapoulas said.
“We now know that with our results we also set ourselves a target, because the teams will come to us and want to be one of the teams to beat us here on our ground.
“But it’s a great situation. We want to be in that position.
“Our goal is to win the BBL Championship and every year we get closer to that, but at the same time we just want to stay grounded.
“We just want to keep working really hard and keep improving because the teams that win the most games are the ones that keep improving throughout the year.”
One game at a time
The Bristol Flyers retained the core of last year’s team with Malcolm Delpache, Mike Miller and Corey Samuels all signing new deals.
A number of young players, mainly Americans, were also recruited.
“All the young players have arrived and they are obviously very talented, but Mike, Malcolm and Corey have told them what it means to play for the club and how we want things to happen,” Kapoulas said.
The team regularly sold out the SGS College arena, which Kapoulas said showed just how big the city’s “appetite” was for the sport.
Plans have been approved for the construction of a new sports district near Ashton Gate, which includes a new arena for the Flyers.
They next face Sheffield Sharks away on Saturday and host the London Lions at home on December 19 in the BBL Cup semi-finals.
“The atmosphere is good, but one of the things we’ve said with our group is that we never want to be too high or too low. One game at a time and that’s how we approach things,” added Kapoulas.
