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: 25-11, 12-4 C-USA

2009-10's toughest games: Oklahoma State, at Memphis, Duke, Memphis

Primary attraction: Tulsa was Gonzaga before Gonzaga. With Memphis on the mend, can the Golden Hurricane reclaim darling status in 2009-10?

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Sleeping giant. Tulsa is a good, good basketball program. Since 1981, Tulsa has been to 19 postseason tournaments. From 1994-2003, the Golden Hurricane went to eight NCAA tourneys. Since 2003, they have not been back. The closest the Hurricane has come to postseason success in recent years was a CBI championship in 2008, and absolutely no one is going to write home about that. (Except maybe me, when I'm feeling weirdly generous.) Can Tulsa's traditional success make a comeback? 2009-10 might be the year: Fifth-year coach Doug Wojcik returns every starter but one on a team that won 25 games (and lost only four in C-USA), including seniors Jerome Jordan and Ben Uzoh. Jordan is a seven-footer who might have been the second or third-best center in the 2009 NBA Draft; instead, he and his 7-foot-6 wingspan will try and capture Tulsa's first C-USA title in years. With Memphis (temporarily?) on the mend, this is the year to do it.

2. Tulsa was Gonzaga before Gonzaga AND Xavier before Xavier. Gonzaga has turned into a perennial small-conference power on the national level, which, as we just covered, Tulsa used to be. Tulsa was also one of the country's premier coach laboratories before Xavier assumed the mantle this decade. But get this: Tulsa can take credit for producing Nolan Richardson, Bill Self, and Tubby Smith -- all national title winners -- as well as Buzz Peterson, J.D. Barnett, and Steve Robinson. Lots of good coaches have come from Tulsa. In his fifth year, Wojcik has a chance to assume his place on the mantle, not to mention a cushy big six job. (Sorry, Tulsa fans.)

3. I would like to meet these gentlemen. According to the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia, Tulsa has two insane basketball fans with whom I would very much like to shake hands. Known as "Mad Dog and Coach," which sounds like a dumb sports talk radio show, the duo celebrate their love for Tulsa basketball in interesting ways. Mad Dog (real name: Ken Penn) has been attending games since 1977, where he wears a rubber snout and barks at the opposing team. (Note: This man is fully grown.) Meanwhile, Coach does what you'd expect, I guess: dresses up in a suit and tie and paces the Tulsa sideline screaming at officials. Some people will take any excuse to dress up in a suit.

The win that gave us Bill Self:

Kansas fans will be thankful Bill Self's Tulsa team upset No. 2 seed Cincinnati in the second round of the 2000 NCAA tournament. Illinois fans, maybe not so much.

Related: The Hunt