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The usual powerhouses are emerging as early favourites once again.
Both the St Kilda Saints and Mid City Magic maintained their unbeaten streaks on Saturday, three weeks into the men's club basketball season.
The Saints handed the Magic Lions their first loss in the process, opening a lead midway through the second quarter, before pulling out to a 94-70 victory.
A second quarter run ignited the Saints after a slow start, trailing 15-6 at one point in the opening quarter.
They went on a 12-0 points streak midway through the second quarter with the score at 25-19, propelling themselves to a lead they would never give up.
In typical Saints fashion, those 12 points came through five different scorers.
That range of threats, and their ability to use them effectively, has been what has made this team so tough to defend in recent years.
Despite that, it was not so much that the baskets were coming freely for the Saints. It was that they were able to shut down the Lions, holding them scoreless for a long period, and without a field goal for even longer.
The Lions managed just three field goals in the second quarter, one of which came off the opening possession.
That allowed the Saints to a 47-36 halftime lead, forward Lawson Morris-Whyte scoring the majority of his game-high 23 points in that first half.
The Lions pulled back to 56-50 in the third quarter, primarily through the work of big man Max Pearce (22 points), again to 71-65 midway through the fourth quarter.
However, each time the Saints responded, the response to the latter being what buried the Lions.
Michael Ruske (19 points) began causing chaos both in the mid-range and from deep, proving key in an 11-0 run, as the score ballooned to 82-65.
George Grant (10 points) hit a three-pointer for the Lions, before Jamie MacDonald bookended a further 12-0 run for the Saints with a three-point play and a triple.
Earlier, the Mid City Magic also moved to 3-0 with a 116-81 win over Varsity.
Varsity remained in the game until halftime, at which point the Magic opened a gap, which grew as the second half progressed.
Dallas Hartmann led the Magic with 25 points, while Nathan Hanna and Oscar Hickey had 22 each.
Ryan Pringle led Varsity with 19.
The Andy Bay Falcons claimed their first win of the season, holding off a fast finish from the City Rise Bombers to take a 95-84 victory.
Matt Pyper had 27 points for the Falcons, while Toby Lewis added 23.
Joseph Euphrat finished with 22 for the Bombers, while both Olly Smith and Caleb Smiler had 21.