Sobey, who was pivotal in Warrnambool Seahawks’ drought-breaking Big V triumph during the NBL off-season, said his team had already defied the nay-sayers who wrote them off as too young or lacking sufficient talent.

“As a team, I think we were picked last by basically everybody in the league,” he said.

“Hopefully we can really prove them wrong in the next couple of weeks.”

The 36ers finished top of the NBL ladder with a 17-11 win-loss record, setting up an appearance in the best-of-three semi-finals against Illawarra Hawks, which starts on Thursday.

Sobey has enjoyed a watershed season, mirroring his team’s rise with career-best stats.

After averaging four points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.1 steals per game in his first season with the 36ers, he is reaping the benefits of more court time.

He averaged 15.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 27.4 minutes per game for the 36ers, taking out the league’s most improved player award on Monday night.

The 26-year-old was the runaway winner, securing 49 votes to claim the award from Sydney Kings’ Jason Cadee, who secured 19 votes, and Brisbane Bulletts’ Torrey Craig, who earned 17.

Sobey had grand ambitions for the season, but it was only after captain Mitch Creek fractured his foot that the guard earned a promotion to the starting line-up. 

“It was unfortunate for Mitch Creek, who went down at that time, but it opened up an opportunity for more court time for me,” he said.

“At the start of the year, I was excited about the season. I had a good off-season, obviously, back home at Warrnambool and had a lot of confidence.

“I was ready to cross that over to the NBL. Once I came over, it probably didn’t pan out that way at the start, but it gradually happened.”

Sobey was also named in the All-NBL second team of the year.