DENVER - Friday night at the McNichols Sport Arena was a tough night for seniors.

First there was the Georgia Bulldogs, whose five senior starters had their collegiate careers ended on a desperation 3-pointer with three seconds left by Syracuse's John Wallace in an 83-81 overtime loss.

Then there was Arizona. UA's four seniors, all part of the starting lineup, played their final game together in an 83-80 loss to Kansas.

The NCAA Tournament has an element of finality to it, it has to. One team must move on and one must go home. But there is always the next season, unless you are a senior.

"Basically this is it," said UA's senior point guard Reggie Geary, who completed his career with two points and eight assists. Included in that was a spectacular, leaping block of a Jerod Haase shot late in the game as Geary flirted with picking up his fifth foul. "It's like a death, it hits you and then it's over."

The careers of the Arizona seniors - Geary, Ben Davis, Corey Williams and Joe McLean € are over, but they are satisfied with the legacy they leave behind. The group played in four NCAA Tournaments, one Final Four and this year's appearance in the Sweet 16.

"I came here and I played hard," Williams said. "I'll walk away feeling good inside because I played hard."

While the seniors said they had no regrets, it still didn't make the loss any easier to take.

"It's hard to put into words," said McLean, who could muster only 13 minutes Friday because of food poisoning. "Twenty minutes ago we had the lead and were looking to move on. Now my career's over."

For Davis, whose time in Tucson seemed too short - he only played a season-and-a-half for UA after transferring from Hutchinson (Kan.) Junior College - the finality still hadn't sunk in as he sat in the locker room after the game.

"I haven't even thought about it. I'm still thinking about the game and how much I'll miss these guys," he said.

In spite of their departure, UA's cupboard will not be bare next season. The best recruiting class in school history will join sophomores Miles Simon, who is the lone returning starter and Michael Dickerson, who started the first half of the season. Freshmen Jason Terry and A.J. Bramlett will return for their sophomore years and redshirt freshman Donnell Harris and sophomore Kelvin Eafon also logged playing time this season.

The departing UA players are confident the future will be as bright as the last four years have been. Williams referred to the play of Simon and Dickerson, both of whom scored 21 points in the loss to Kansas, as signs that the team will not be without talent next season.

"Anytime you play well in the tournament, it's a tremendous confidence booster. There's a lot they can build on," Williams said.

"I've learned a lot from the seniors, especially from Reggie," Terry said. "He taught me to keep my head up and just play."

The Class of 1996 will be a hard act to follow, though.

"As I told them in the locker room, never has there been better senior leadership, ever," said UA coach Lute Olson. "On the court, off the court, that's what makes them so special.

"What Miles and Michael did tonight, what they did was the result of what they've seen from the seniors. Once you've got that type of leadership and toughness, it penetrates. It will be felt 10 years from now."

Perhaps because this class was so special was why the loss was so tough to take.

"That's what hurt most, we wanted to go win the whole thing with the seniors. We just fell short," Dickerson said.