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: 28-6 (14-0, WCC)

2009-2010's toughest games: at Michigan State, vs. Wake Forest, at Duke, vs. Oklahoma, Maui Invitational (possibly Arizona, Wisconsin, Maryland or Vanderbilt)

Primary attraction: With a killer schedule and the departure of four starters, could Gonzaga miss out on the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998?

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Is the cupboard empty or merely restocked? -- Gonzaga always reloads. Every two or three years seniors matriculate or a star heads to the NBA early and people wonder whether this is finally the year Mark Few's squad relinquishes its grip on the West Coast Conference. Expect that question to get louder this December when a young Zags team with an inexperienced frontcourt is sure to drop a number of games thanks to the Bulldogs' usual, burtal non-conference sked. The most familiar names (Austin Daye, Micah Downs, Josh Heytvelt and Jeremy Pargo) are gone, replaced with guys you've never heard of. But, then again, you had never heard of any of those four guys when they were the no-names replacing Adam Morrison and Derek Raivio.

2. Matt Bouldin -- You have heard of Bouldin, though. The latest in a long line of white, shaggy-haired guards, Bouldin will provide senior leadership to a team that will feature a frontcourt decimated by the loss of Downs and Daye. Robert Sacre is a seven-footer coming off a medical redshirt and Few insists he's ready to go. But seven-footers and foot injuries tend to be as bad a combination as Josh Heytvelt and plantlife.

3. A decade of dominance? -- Gonzaga is looking to become just the fourth team in NCAA basketball history to ever win 10 straight regular season conference titles. One more would tie the Zags for the second-longest streak of all-time, trying them with Kentucky (1944-52), Connecticut (1951-1960) and UNLV (1983-1992). The longest streak belongs to UCLA, which won 13 straight Pac-10 titles from 1967 to 1979. 

Gratuitous Dan Dickau picture: Did I used to have a man-crush on Dan Dickau? No. I still have a man-crush on Dan Dickau: