The Hunt for the Most Interesting Team in the World is the Dagger's 2009-10 countdown preview series. Check out the overriding principles here.

Last year's record: 16-15 (7-11, Big East)

2009-2010's toughest games: vs. Butler, vs. Washington (in Anaheim), vs. Maryland, vs. Duke

Primary attraction: If not for Notre Dame, Georgetown would have been the biggest disappointment of the 2008-2009 season. Will the return of Greg Monroe help the Hoyas push back to the top of the BigEast?

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Greg Monroe  -- He was the top recruit coming out of high school and showed why at points last year. But Greg Monroe's freshman campaign was beset by inconsistency and long stretches of inactivity (maybe he studied too much Roy Hibbert game film). Don't expect to see either of those this year. With one year of NCAA basketball under his belt and the NBA beckoning in 2010, expect a monster year from 6-foot-11 Monroe.

2. Avoiding collapse? -- When the calendar turned to 2009, Georgetown basketball was in a good spot. The Hoyas had just upset second-ranked and undefeated Connecticut to move to 10-1 on the season. Two straight losses to ranked teams followed, but Georgetown righted the ship with victories over Providence and No. 8 Syracuse before dropping one to No. 2 Duke. Then the bottom fell out. Over the next 37 days Georgetown would win just two games and would only manage four Ws from January 17 to the end of the season. Will the lessons of last year help this Georgetown team or will it prepare them for more of the same this season? Losing DaJuan Summers won't help, but the Hoyas may actually miss glue guy Jessie Sapp even more.

3. Just play Maryland already -- Georgetown is closer to Maryland than Duke is to North Carolina. But because of childish attitudes on the parts of both programs, the two D.C.-area schools refuse to play each other in the regular season. It's idiotic. (Camille Powell explained it all in a 2005 Washington Post piece.)

Georgetown men's basketball is going to thrill you tonight: