It has been seven months since Mario Chalmers swished this improbable triple to send the National Championship into overtime, where Kansas prevailed over Memphis. The season begins tonight – most teams open this weekend, though – and we want your picks.

Here was our preseason Top 5 last year, and three of them ended up in the Final Four (we had Kansas sixth), but that means nothing because all four No. 1 seeds advanced to San Antonio.

We’ll put together a haphazard Top 20 (projecting where everyone will end up at season’s end) later in the day. And now, onto the picks …

Final Four:
North Carolina – Too obvious. Lost nobody, no discernible weaknesses.
Connecticut – We’ve got the Huskies winning the title. Feeling a bit jinxed seeing Thabeet on the cover of ESPN the Mag, but we made this call back in April and we’re sticking with it.
Gonzaga – Hate this pick because Austin Daye isn’t 100 percent healthy … but it’s no fun following the crowd and taking Louisville and UCLA.
Michigan State - Tempted to take a longshot here (Arizona State, Villanova, Oklahoma or even Wake Forest) but we’ll go with the Spartans because they’re not nearly as one-dimensional on offense as they were last year, and they’re just as good defensively.