When we left college basketball competition in April in New Orleans, these two facts were self-evident:

Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony’s career was going to be a one (title) and done.

Kansas coach Roy Williams didn’t give an expletive deleted about the North Carolina job … at that moment.

Anthony and Williams have moved on, Carmelo to the NBA and Roy to the North Carolina job (things change in a coach’s mind). And after the most tumultuous, embarrassing and cheerless off-season in memory, the balls started bouncing again early this morning.

Here are some topics, thoughts and story lines worthy of discussion as the 2003-04 season, which will end April 5 in San Antonio’s Alamodome, starts to gear up:

North Carolina, Kansas and UCLA (combined 16 championships and 40 Final Fours) have new coaches. Williams is back home with the Heels while Bill Self replaces Williams at Kansas. Ben Howland takes over a Bruins program that has redefined the word “inconsistent” over the past half-dozen seasons.

Anthony helped Syracuse win its first national championship before moving on to the Denver Nuggets (where championship chances are slim). Who will be this year’s version of Anthony? The best bet is in Arizona, where point guard Mustafa Shakur is being compared to Mike Bibby (who as a freshman led the Wildcats to the 1997 title).

Replacement parts. Some completed their eligibility, some left early for NBA piles of dead presidents. Here are some of the players who must replace the players who departed. At Texas, Kenton Paulino or Edgar Moreno in for T.J. Ford; at Oklahoma, Drew Lavender for Hollis Price; at Pittsburgh, Carl Krauser for Brandin Knight; at Syracuse, Hakim Warrick for Anthony; at Kansas, J.R. Giddens for Kirk Hinrich.

Breakout seasons occur either because of coaching changes, playing-time opportunity or personnel changes. Kansas’ Wayne Simien, Cincinnati’s Jason Maxiell and Marquette’s Travis Diener all could step forward with all-conference or All-America type seasons. But North Carolina point guard Raymond Felton, a blow-and-go type, should benefit the most from Williams’ emphasis on the fast break.

So, who is likely to win this year’s championship? As of today, the title should go to a team on this list: Duke, Connecticut, Michigan State, Arizona, Missouri, Syracuse, Kentucky or Florida.

Which teams could make surprise runs to the Final Four? Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh.

The Big 12 Conference is ranked as the nation’s best in several preseason magazines and it has placed two teams in each of the past two Final Fours. But offseason scandals and tragedies have left a cloud over the Big 12 and college basketball.

“I think that we’re all just ready for the season to begin so we can start talking about basketball,” Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said.

Amen to that.