KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman Hassan Adams battles for a rebound against West Regional Most Outstanding Player Kirk Hinrich. Adams played 29 minutes and scored 11 points in Arizona's three-point loss to Kansas.

ANAHEIM, Calif. ÷ That's why they call it March Madness.

As quickly as the Wildcats came back from a number of large deficits Saturday, their season ended.

The final horn also marked the conclusion of the careers of three of the most celebrated seniors in Arizona basketball history.

A missed 3-pointer by senior Jason Gardner as time expired bounced off the rim and put Kansas in the Final Four for the second straight year, leaving UA wondering just how everything went to so wrong in the 78-75 defeat in the Arrowhead Pond.

"I felt I had a good look, just missed off the back rim," said an emotional Gardner while fighting back tears.

Inside the box score: Play of the game: Kansas guard Keith Langford completed the game's scoring on a running lay-up with 50.6 seconds to go. Stat of the game: Averaging just over 11 turnovers per game throughout the NCAA tournament, UA turned the ball over 13 times in the first half alone.

"I don't want anybody blaming the miss on Jason," sophomore Channing Frye said. "We came here as a team; we're going to leave as a team."

A 16-point comeback in the first half and another from 14 down in the second seemed to give UA hope of earning itself a trip to New Orleans. Time and again, however, Jayhawk senior Kirk Hinrich, who had 28 points, had an answer for whatever futile attempt the Wildcats might have thrown his way.

None of Hinrich's responses meant as much as his block on a Gardner 3-point attempt in the final seconds.

KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore Salim Stoudamire

"We had a lot of options, but with seven seconds left, there's really not a lot of time," Gardner said. "I shot the (first) three, Hinrich blocked it, it fell into Luke (Walton's) hands and he kicked it back out. The ball just didn't fall."

The game's final hoop came with 50 seconds left as Keith Langford jumped through the UA defense to make a left-handed lay in to put KU up by three.

On the next possession, Walton was called for a charge as he was trying to post up Langford.

"I'm going to have to live with (the charge); I probably should have shot the three," Walton said.

The game's final possession, starting with 7.1 seconds left on the game clock, was originally slated for sophomore Salim Stoudamire or Walton but Gardner said he felt he had a good look. UA had the chance to tie the game after it got the ball back by forcing a shot clock violation setting up the game's final sequence.

"It's starting to sink in," Walton said. "This will be the last time I'm in the locker room with these guys, the last time I put on the uniform and (the last time) being with the coaches."

The hardest part of everything is knowing it's all over -Luke Walton, senior forward

"The hardest part of everything is knowing it's all over. We're not going to have another shot."

The game Saturday resembled the Wildcats' Jan. 25 win in Lawrence as UA erased a 20-point halftime deficit to outscore KU 67-30 in the game's final 25 minutes. But this time, the outcome ended in the Jayhawks' favor.

"We fell short of out goal, and I just feel bad for the seniors," Stoudamire said. "They meant everything to us."

It was those seniors who carried the Wildcats when they needed it most.

KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Kansas Sophomore guard Keith Langford.

Gardner ends his Arizona career by leading the Wildcats with a 23-point performance and finishing just behind two players, Sean Elliott (2,555) and Bob Elliott (2,125) with 1,984 career points. Walton finished with a double-double, scoring 18 points and bringing down 10 rebounds. Walton made a clutch 3-pointer with two minutes remaining to keep UA's hopes alive. Anderson, who battled foul trouble for the entire game, put in 11 points of his own.

"I told the team in the locker room that I don't think we have ever had better leadership both on the court and off the court than we've had from these seniors," UA head coach Lute Olson said.

Arizona is headed home with a 28-4 record as Kansas and its 29-7 mark will face a Marquette squad fresh off taking down another No. 1 seed, top-ranked Kentucky.

"Getting this far is hard," Anderson said. "It was a pretty great career with Luke and Jason. The finality is the hardest thing, isn't it?"

Game notes

Hinrich was named the West regional Most Outstanding Player as he was also a member of the five-man all-tournament team along with Walton, Gardner, Langford and Nick Collison · Olson falls one win shy of winning his 500th as the head coach of UA with the loss · Arizona had 13 turnovers in the first half but just six in the second · There were nine ties and seven different lead changes, six of which came in the second half ... KU head coach Roy Williams will be coaching in his fourth Final Four but is still looking for that elusive first national title.