It's not often that a preseason favorite falls under the radar, but that is where the Olympus Titans found themselves heading into the playoffs this week.

Funny how the pendulum can swing so quickly, but coach Matt Barnes was not losing any sleep over it.

"Look at West last year. We beat them by 20, three games from the end of the year," said Barnes. "Then they turn around and beat us [in the semifinals] and win the whole darn thing. Anything can happen in those four games."

Indeed, anything can happen in the four games this week en route to the Class 4A title. That's why the Titans (18-3, 10-2) were buckling down in practice, letting other teams worry about the recognition, while hoping to reclaim their early season status with victories when they matter the most.

Up until February, Olympus was seemingly sitting on top of the basketball world, buoyed by wins over current 5A favorite Bingham and last year's 5A champion West Jordan. The Titans' only blemish in 14 games was a 59-47 loss to Alta.

And then the trip to Bountiful happened. The Braves went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the final 30 seconds, and handed the Titans their first region loss of the year 54-51. Three weeks later, in the final game of the regular season, with the Region 6 title on the line, Bountiful again toppled the Titans, this time 62-58.

"No question that was a tough loss, because we take pride in winning region," said Barnes. "But our entire focus this year has been state. We want to bring home that title."

Because of the losses to Bountiful, Olympus will start the playoffs on the road against Sky View, a team that Barnes is keenly familiar with. Sky View is where Barnes cut his teeth as an assistant coach morre than 15 years ago. It's also home to the Region 5 runner-up, a team that went 0-3 against Mountain Crest, the Region 5 champ, and 16-2 against everyone else.

The Bobcats are led by dual-sport star Kyler Carlsen. After throwing for more than 2,700 yards, rushing for 800-plus yards and combining for 34 touchdowns on the gridiron, the 6-foot-2 Carlsen is averaging 15.9 points on the floor for Sky View.

Pacing the Titans the entire year has been Nick Paulos. The 6-foot-7 Paulos is a spindly shooting guard with long arms and even longer range. Paulos has knocked down a team leading 53 three-pointers on the year, while also leading Olympus in blocks and rebounds.

Helping out Paulos is Connor Brady, a 6-foot-6 forward who has the ability to dominate games, scoring 30 points at Stansbury and 21 at Highland and finishing the regular season averaging 12.8 points per game. Brady, along with Will Watkins (8.6 points per game), will need to bring their best each and every game from here on out, because teams will be focusing on stopping Paulos.

So far, Barnes is proud of his team's effort this season, and with only three defeats, admits that it is hard to nitpick the Titans' season. He feels, along with his team, that Lehi, Provo, Bountiful and Mountain Crest have as good a chance as any to take home the 4A crown.

And not having a No. 1 seed? No problem, according to Barnes.

"Number one seeds don't always win titles. I mean just look at 4A and 5A last year [West and West Jordan won each, respectively, despite being perceived as underdogs]," said Barnes. "We're hoping this year turns out the same for us."