Photo by michael starghill.

It seems like everywhere you look this week, the number ten was prominently on display. Decade retrospectives, getting in the habit of writing “10” on the end of date abbreviations, and so forth. Why not join the party? As the major power conferences begin their conference schedules, yours truly thought it a good idea to take a look back at the ten most important regional games of the season so far — and the ten most important matchups to come. Let’s get started with the games that were:

Morgan State 97, Arkansas 94 – November 24
Morgan State is a team that you can’t help but root for. Small, unheard of, utterly unheralded. So when they go to an SEC gym, get 24 points from their junior hometown guard, hit 34-41 from the free throw line, and outrebound the Razorbacks to win a nailbiter by three — well, it’s hard to not enjoy it.

Temple 61, Virginia Tech 50 – November 27
At 12-1, Tech is the consensus pick for second-best team in the area. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that the Hokies possess nary a quality win (their best, an overtime win against Seton Hall yesterday). In the one game they had against a team in the top 50 of the RPI, Temple exposed the boys from Blacksburg’s weaknesses: cold shooting against the zone and an extreme over-reliance on star Malcolm Delaney (who scored 32 of his team’s 50 points in this game). The Tar Heels come knocking next Sunday, so we’ll see if Virginia Tech is anything more than just a paper contender.

George Washington 66, George Mason 49 – December 2
One George rising, one George falling. After a ’08-’09 season which saw them finish with 10 wins all year, the Colonials are already 10-3, and never trailed in this matchup of Georges. Mason, on the other hand, is a disappointing 7-6. A big win on Saturday against Old Dominion keeps the Patriots in the race for the CAA crown, but Mason is hardly the mid-major power it was late last decade.

William and Mary 75, Virginia Commonwealth 74 – December 5
It’s quite possible that this was the best game involving regional teams in 2009. The CAA opener for both teams saw William and Mary battle back from a 13 point deficit at halftime to take the very early pole in the conference standings. Commonwealth’s outside specialist Ed Nixon missed a three at the buzzer, after the Tribe’s hot hands fought back with six threes and 56.5 percent shooting from the field in the second twenty minutes. At the time, I said “if you really like college hoops, but tire of big-conference monotony, this is the league for you.” I stand by that assessment.