The pair played four college seasons together and are part of a rich Australian tradition at St Mary's, which is also the alma mater of NBA veterans Patty Mills and Matthew Dellevadova.

It includes South East Melbourne star Dane Pineau, who perhaps inadvertently played a role in the Landale's breakout junior year in 2017.

That was the first glimpse of the now Melbourne United star who's almost certainly NBA-bound, but Naar was pretty blunt when asked if the Geelong Grammar product had the look of a future star.

"No, not at all to be honest," Naar said.

"We had four years together in college back to when he was a weak fat kid to now being just a beast. He always had the touch and the soft hands he has now but he's just a different person all together.

"Once he got his diet in order and slimmed down a bit, it brought out his athleticism and then it put it all together. He's got a great work ethic and it's credit to him working hard.

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"There were a few other circumstances. Dane Pineau, who was our starting centre, hurt his back so he didn't start the season. Jock got the opportunity and just never let go of it. It was pretty crazy to see and he took another jump in senior year.

"The [upward] trajectory he's been on has been pretty steep which has been great to see. I was a big fan of playing with him, and I've always been cheering for him, but hopefully on Wednesday he has a shocker."

Illawarra might need him to to halt Melbourne United's undefeated start to the season in Wollongong on Wednesday night, though the competition leaders will be without injured stars Chris Goulding and She Ili.

The Hawks will also be looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season to the Phoenix on Sunday. It followed a 10-day lay-off that seemingly dented the momentum Brian Goorjian's side built over four quick-fire wins to start their campaign.

Naar agreed with the coach's assertion that Hawks were "just off" in their first defeat, but said it hasn't put a hole in his team's confidence.

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"I don't think we had the same feeling but it's unlikely that you're going to win every game or play perfect every game," Naar said.

"We're not going to let it get us down. It's only one game for now so we'll hopefully bounce back, these things happen. We were sort of rolling there and then we had 10 days off. It did feel like a bit of a break in the season.

"It's a weird thing, you can get fresh and put more things into to practice, but you kind of get used to not playing a little bit. I don't think you can say that's the reason [we lost] but it can contribute.

"Playing United, who are the top team right now, is a big challenge for us but a good one to bounce back with and it's how it's going to have to be this year. With 36 games now, you're going to play a game and then a few days later play another one.

"You can't really sit and dwell on a loss so you've just got to flick the switch and turn it around."

Landale has publicly expressed a different opinion on the possibility of winning every game, with his addition to the United roster putting the glamour club at Winx-like odds to claim the title this season.

It presents a daunting challenge, but Naar's never taken the floor against a United outfit that wasn't stacked.

"Obviously Jock made their team very solid but you want to play against the best teams and beat the best team so you just see it as a challenge," Naar said.

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"They're undefeated so far and Jock was talking about going undefeated for the season so that gives us a bit of extra motivation. Every game in the NBL is massive regardless of who you play. One win here or one loss there can put you in or out of the playoffs.

"They are the number one team at the moment but, as a team, we're usually pretty hyped to play anyone. They've always got the big names at United but we'd love to beat them and talk a bit of smack to Jock afterwards.

"More so, good teams usually can avoid losing two games in a row and you don't want to have too many little slumps. This is is obviously the first bit of adversity we've had with a loss so it'll test us to show how we bounce back after that. That's probably the most important thing."

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