The Hunt for the Most Interesting Team in the World (which we're going to have to abbreviate after this, aren't we?) is the Dagger's 2009-10 countdown preview series. Everyone does this, but ours is a tad different: Instead of merely counting down who we think will be the best 64 teams in the country, we're counting down the most interesting. Talent and possible success are factors, but neither shall trump amusement in our complicated and arbitrary calculus. Make sense? Get it? Good. Now don't send me complaints asking why your team isn't ranked. Because your team is obviously boring.

Today's inaugural team? The No. 64-ranked New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders. The rundown:

• 2008-09 Record: 1-30

• 2009-10's Toughest Games: Manhattan, Seton Hall, Vermont, Rutgers

• Primary Attraction: Indomitable spirit in the face of failure

Three Items Of Undeniable Interest:

1. Winless no more. NJIT has been a sensation before: In 2007-08, the Highlanders finished their season with an 0-29 record, the worst in the history of collegiate basketball. National outlets became briefly interested in the Highlanders again last year, when, faced with the threat of a second straight winless season, NJIT pulled out a 61-51 win at home over Bryant, breaking a 51-game losing streak. Fans were jubilant, the players stormed the court, and while it would be easy to ridicule such an obvious moral victory -- this was still a 30-loss season, remember -- the spirit of the school, its fans, its players and its coaches was actually really endearing. You can't make fun of that. You just have to smile at it.

2. But I refuse to smile at this. This is a drawing of the Highlanders' mascot. His name is: "The Highlander." He is posed as if to say: "Come get some." He is completely terrifying. I wish this were less true of his real-life counterpart; alas, it is not.

3. Division 1? Really? In 2008-09, the NJIT Highlanders make the official jump. This is their first season as a Division 1 team. This will include games with the Big East's two New Jersey schools, Seton Hall and Rutgers, and these games will not go well. Manhattan and Vermont are likely to destroy good old NJIT, too. But tracking the team's progress will be interesting, because you never know: If NJIT gets a win or two this season, its first in the big leagues -- sorry, but that's progress. At this rate, NJIT will post its first winning season when my first child goes to college. But, sometimes, that's what college hoops are all about: Spirit, attrition and determination in the face of overwhelming odds. It's we we love the tournament, after all. So I'll just say it: If you're not cheering for NJIT, you should get your heart checked.

Related: The Hunt