Fitchett was clearing his head yesterday after Tuesday night's scintillating 100-78 win against Australia that sealed both the Oceania title and the region's top seeding at the next world championships in Turkey.
Tipped to struggle against the Australians, the young Tall Blacks produced a dominant performance that provoked comparisons with Tab Baldwin's great team, which beat the Australians in 2001 and then took a stunning fourth place at the 2002 world championships in Indianapolis.
Fitchett (26) was in the middle of it all in Wellington, logging 18 minutes as the back-up to Lindsay Tait and sinking a three-pointer on the run right at the end of the third quarter.
He was in Auckland yesterday and, understandably, was reaching for a soothing coffee to ease a throbbing head.
"We celebrated pretty hard," Fitchett told the Otago Daily Times.
"For a lot of us, it was our first win against Australia. That's always something Kiwis like to strive for."
Fitchett, who was playing his 27th test, found himself in the slightly unfamiliar position of being one of the senior players in Nenad Vucinic's team.
But he said the new-look Tall Blacks never doubted they were good enough to beat Australia, even after blowing the first test in Sydney.
"We felt we played some pretty good basketball against very good teams in Europe, like Italy and Finland, before this series," he said.
"We were confident and we didn't have any fear of the Australians. We've played against them and we see them on TV every week.
"We were actually really disappointed with Sydney because we thought we threw that game away. We had to make sure we didn't do it again."
When the Tall Blacks marked the greatest moment in New Zealand basketball history by finishing fourth at the 2002 world championships, the squad included Sean Marks, Pero Cameron, Mark Dickel, Phill Jones, Paul Henare and Dillon Boucher.
As their time in the black singlet ended, most naturally assumed there would be years of rebuilding to take place, but Fitchett said good planning had resulted in a smooth takeover.
"Kirk Penney's still here. But we've found one or two players from each year that can compete at the highest level.
"I think there are three of us born in 1982, a couple from 1985 and a couple from 1988. Players have come through the system and we're seeing the fruits of that."
One player who has seemingly come from nowhere is towering centre Alex Pledger, a star with 15 points and 13 rebounds against Australia, but Fitchett said he had always been on the radar.
"He's 22 now and he was one of those kids who was talked about a lot when he was 16.
"It's taken him a few years but he's here now and the sky is the limit for him. I seriously think he could play in any league in the world."
Fitchett went back to Nelson after leaving Dunedin in 2004 and then joined Waikato, where he won the national league this year.
He was disappointed when the Nuggets withdrew from the league because of financial constraints and hoped his former side would return next year.
Fitchett knows he will have to fight to keep his place in the Tall Blacks for the 2010 world championships, with Tait entrenched as the starter, Jarrod Kenny pushing for time and Jeremy Kench to return from injury.
The Tall Blacks do not play again until August next year, when they will reassemble for the Commonwealth championship in India before heading to Turkey.
Fitchett's plan is to give Europe a shot.
He is heading to Estonia on Sunday, to train with Vucinic's club.
