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: 22-11, 9-9 Big Ten

2009-10's toughest games: at Butler, at Purdue, at Michigan State, at Michigan

Primary attraction: Tubby Smith leads a quietly rabid Minnesota fan base back into the national conversation. But for how long?

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Tubby Smith's precarious position. Gophers fans love Tubby Smith. Tubby Smith should love Gophers fans. After all, Smith was expelled from Kentucky for too many just-OK seasons in a row, a rare feat for a fan base who watched that same coach win a national title not all that long ago. But where Kentucky's fans expect everything, Minnesota's fans are more than happy with what Tubby's got going right now: A consistently improving program that can compete night in and night out with some of the best teams in the country, and that seems all but a lock to return to the NCAA title again this season. If he keeps this up, Tubby could probably stay at Minnesota forever. But does he want to? Smith was the subject of some Alabama-related rumors last offseason, and those were not the first in his Gopher tenure. Does Tubby really want to be in Minnesota? And if not, why not?

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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: 23-13, 9-7 SEC

2009-10's toughest games: at UCLA, Kentucky, at LSU, Tennessee

Primary attraction: As Rick Stansbury deals with Renardo Sidney (or the lack thereof), can the Bulldogs fulfill their promise?

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Re-nar-do! Re-nar-do! Re. Nar. Dooooooo! Uh, Renardo? Much of the 2009-10 season will hinge on whether Rick Stansbury's great gambit -- signing Renardo Sidney amidst eligibility suspicions after Sidney's attempts at landing at USC and UCLA failed -- works or not. Thus far, things aren't looking good. The Bulldogs are two games into the 2009-10 season, and Sidney is still ineligible. The NCAA wants more documents from the Sidney family in order to prove they weren't receiving money for their mortgage while they lived in California; meanwhile, Sidney's lawyer, Don Jackson, seems more intent on making a name for himself than doing right by his client, whose best interests involve playing basketball as soon as possible. Whether Sidney can't get eligible and Jackson knows it or Jackson is merely stalling in an attempt to raise his own profile is as yet unknown. What is known is that the Bulldogs need Sidney, and Sidney needs the Bulldogs. They need each other, and soon.

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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: 23-11, 10-8 Big East

2009-10's toughest games: Purdue, Ohio State, Louisville, at Villanova

Primary attraction: Future lottery pick Devan Ebanks leads Bob Huggins back to the top.

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. The Huggins days of yore. It wasn't all that long ago that Bob Huggins was at the top of the college coaching profession. His Cincinnati teams were almost always national contenders, as Huggins pieced together junior college transfers and high-profile recruits to create one of the best programs in the country. But Huggy Bear's style has its fair share of deficiencies. For one, Huggins's players were never known for their academics, and his program's infamous zero percent graduation rate was a frequent story. Which is fine when you're winning, as long as you're staying out of trouble. But Huggins wasn't, and didn't. A 2004 DUI -- in which Huggins gave cops the classic "Do you know who I am?" while vomit lined his Lexus door -- was the beginning of the end of his career at Cincinnati.

Now Huggins has a whole new lease on coaching life. He's commandeered his alma mater in the wake of John Beilein's defection to Michigan, and he's done so in classic Huggins style: with talent. 2008-09 was the year that talent revealed itself in a crowded Big East. This year, West Virginia wants more.

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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: 22-13, 12-9 Pac-10

2009-10's toughest games: at Texas, Tennessee, at Georgia Tech, at Cal

Primary attraction: Like a beautifully rendered post-apocalyptic landscape, you won't be able to help checking in on the Trojans.

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Boom. These are not last year's USC Trojans. The reasons for this are obvious: Tim Floyd resigned his position amidst a Yahoo! Sports report that he had a very dirty hand in O.J. Mayo's recruitment, and Floyd chose not to fight the impending NCAA investigation into USC's entire athletics program. Instead, he fled, leaving his players to transfer and recruits to choose elsewhere. USC, with its brand-new stadium and shiny uniforms and big-program sheen will look an awful lot like D.C. in "Fallout 3." What was here before was beautiful, but the destruction has an attraction of its own.

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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: 24-8, 12-4 Mountain West

2009-10's toughest games: Arizona State, Nevada, Arizona, Utah

Primary object of attraction: Dave Rose's thus-far-successful battle with pancreatic cancer dovetails with BYU's chance to break out of the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in his tenure.

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Dave Rose. Rose could probably supplant this entire post. He was a member of the 1983 Houston squad that became known as "Phi Slama Jama" and eventually lost to N.C. State in one of the most memorable national title games of all-time. (The last-second shot, Jim Valvano searching for a hug, etc.) Rose also had a tumultuous offseason: He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June and has since beaten the disease into remission. In the meantime, Rose also happens to be one of the best non-major coaches in the country; he has had immediate and consistent success at BYU, the sort of success that gets you a bigtime coaching gig sooner rather than later. Coincidentally, Rose also just extended his contract another five years, which will keep him in Provo until 2013-14. Perhaps that bigtime coaching job can wait.

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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: 22-11, 10-8 Big Ten

2009-10's toughest games: North Carolina, Butler, Michigan State, Purdue

Primary attraction: With Evan Turner on the rise, Ohio State should improve upon last year's mediocre campaign.

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Evan Turner. See here. If this keeps up, he'll be worth the price of admission every time.

2. Reminder: Thad Matta is really good at this. Thad Matta can recruit. In case you needed evidence -- and you don't, but what the hell -- take a gander at Thad Matta's just-signed 2010 class. There's the No. 3 player in the country, Jared Sullinger, as well as No. 18 and No. 37, Deshaun Thomas and Jordan Sibert, respectively. And then Matta nabbed three more players, making a total of six pairs of fresh legs to insert into the Buckeye fold next fall. The problem lately for Matta has been in congealing this talent into Big Ten and NCAA title-worthy teams. After all, last year's No. 1 overall recruit B.J. Mullens was so raw as to barely make a dent in the Buckeyes' lineup. Even with Mullens and Turner, Ohio State finished just above .500 in a relatively mediocre Big Ten. The Buckeyes should be better next year, and then in 2010, we'll get to watch Matta start all over. With the best talent in the country. Again.

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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: 27-8, 12-4 A-10

2009-10's toughest games: Cincinnati, at Butler, at Wake Forest, at Florida

Primary attraction: The Sean Miller era is over, but Xavier has been here before.

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Post-coachatic stress syndrome. It has to be rough to be a Xavier fan. After all, your program is good -- very good -- and yet, the better the program gets, the more likely it is your coach is going to leave for greener (read: more monied) pastures. So it was with Sean Miller in 2009. Miller left the Musketeers after two straight deep NCAA tournament runs to take the opening at Arizona. This happened just as key Xavier players B.J. Raymond and C.J. Anderson graduated and junior Derrick Brown took a perhaps ill-advised run at the NBA draft, where he was selected No. 40 overall. So: New team, new coach, new program. Scary, right?

Fortunately for Xavier, Chris Mack -- a former Miller assistant -- won't lack for continuity. He runs the same style Miller did and will likely recruit similarly, given that he had a hand in much of Miller's previous recruiting success. Which is sort of how Xavier rolls: Thad Matta leaves for Ohio State? Hire associate head coach Sean Miller. Miller leaves for Arizona? Hire longtime assistant Chris Mack. Somehow, I have a feeling Xavier's going to be just fine.

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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: 24-10, 11-7 Big Ten

2009-10's toughest games: Utah, Gonzaga, at Michigan State, at Purdue

Primary attraction: Two years after Bruce Weber's worst season, the Illini are packed with young talent and guards to spare. Can this team win the Big Ten?

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. So maybe Bruce Weber can recruit. The prevailing Illini-fan complaint about Bruce Weber -- which reached its zenith after Weber lost star Eric Gordon, Jr. to Kelvin Sampson in 2007-08 -- is that Weber can't recruit. It's true that Weber's best season came in large part thanks to the skills of players recruited by predecessor Bill Self, and it's true that Weber has let a lot of Illinois's best talent escape the state. (For example, Duke guard Jon Scheyer was coached at Glenbrook North High School in suburban Chicago by Weber's brother Dave; how Bruce failed to get his hooks in Scheyer remains a mystery.) But Weber changed that with his 2009 recruiting class, second only to Indiana's in the Big Ten and ranked No. 14 in the country overall. In particular, Weber nabbed two guards -- Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson -- who not only have the benefit of being from Illinois but, more importantly, can anchor Weber's backcourt for years to come. (For what it's worth, Richardson has already turned in a fantastic performance, scoring 23 points 9-of-13 shooting and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in Illinois's final exhibition game. That sound you hear is Pavlov-like floods of saliva emanating from downstate Illinois.)

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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.

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Last year's record: 31-5, 15-3 Big East

2009-10's toughest games: Louisville, Georgetown, at West Virginia, Villanova

Primary attraction: Jamie Dixon goes back to work.

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Because they went to the NBA, you see. So much of college hoops previewing is based on a simple formula: How many players did Team X lose? How good were those players? How good are the players that played behind them? And which recruits will help close the gap? The whole point of this feature is to do something a little bit less cookie cutter than that ... but, on the other hand, sometimes the most interesting thing about a team is players lost vs. players found. In 2009-10, few teams in the nation will experience that formula more acutely than the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Jamie Dixon's team lost its three best players, three players that took the Panthers to a 31-5 season and a No. 1 seed and a run to the Elite Eight. Those players are DeJuan Blair (famously passed over until the second round of the NBA draft; NBA GMs are so dumb sometimes); Sam Young, and Levance Fields, who graduated and is now playing in Europe. Blair was a monster rebounder, while Young set the single-season school record in points and Fields did the same for assists.

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