By Ryan Schneider

Arizona Daily Wildcat

CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ As soon as the "We want Duke!" chants echoed through the Charlotte Coliseum in the waning moments of Arkansas' 91-82 NCAA semifinal victory over the Arizona basketball team on Saturday, the Wildcats were faced with the unanswerable questions of "What if?"

Those inquiries will not be answered any time soon, but the possibilities for a team that returns four starters next season and loses only three seniors was almost enough to help UA players wipe the tears from their eyes.

Almost.

Corey Williams sparked the first conversations about the prospects for next season. Instead of completely dwelling on his 14 points and six rebounds against the Razorbacks, Williams was thinking about practicing.

"I've got to really dedicate myself to being a better player," Williams said. "That's working in the weight room, that's working on my outside shot and that's working on my ballhandling. Doing all the little things that makes players

Ever the optimist, Williams added that this loss will not be considered a crushing blow in any way by his teammates.

"This really won't affect the team too much," Williams said. "The guys on this team have a lot of character, and us getting to the Final Four isn't really going to change anybody or how we approach playing in the next couple of

For guard Reggie Geary, taking solace in next season may be the most comforting thing to do. After holding Arkansas small forward Scotty Thurman to two first-half points, Thurman scored 12 in the second period to lead the Razorbacks on a 22-10 run in the final eight minutes of play, sending the Hogs to the title game for the first time in school

"I'll probably be out there in a week and a half working on my jumper for next year," said Geary, who had four points. "I have to start over again, I'm too old to be moping around and crying and whining about things. I've got to hopefully improve myself and change things for the future."

Geary added the future will be a bright one in Tucson, if one unlikely precaution is taken.

"I think it's going to be a good team if the media leaves us alone," Geary said. "They put too much weight on our backs in Tucson _ every bandwagon in the world is on our squad right now. If we stay within ourselves and understand what we have to do, we definitely have the possibility to get back here again."

The optimism didn't spread toward UA center Joseph Blair right away, however. Blair said from the onset of this tournament that he was on a mission for respect. A win against Arkansas would have given him what he thought was his. Now, Blair will have to wait for that mark of

"I guess you just try to move on, you want to put it in the back of your mind," he said. "At this stage in the game, it's hard to do that."

It was tough for Blair to move anywhere because he was forced with the unenviable task of guarding Arkansas' manchild center, Corliss Williamson. Despite constant double teams in the post, Williamson scored 29 points, snatched 13 rebounds and even had five assists to lead the Razorbacks to tonight's championship matchup with Duke.

"We didn't help out J.B. too much tonight," Geary said. "(Williamson) is a second-team All-American, that basically speaks for itself."

While some were able to peer far into the future to look at Arizona's fortunes next season, it will be tough for a pair of guards to forget the events of that fateful Saturday

After combining to average 47.8 points in the Wildcats' four previous tournament games, Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire only hit 11 of 43 shots and were 2 of 22 from behind the three-point arc for a not-so-grand total of 36

"I just didn't know what was going on," said Stoudamire, who didn't make a shot until his buzzer-beating three-pointer ended the first half. "I had open looks, I was taking my time, but it just wasn't falling."

Reeves didn't connect on a three-pointer in nine tries and picked up his fourth foul seconds before Arkansas went on its game-ending run _ a dubious and unexpected accomplishment for the second-team All-American.

"A lot of calls didn't go our way tonight," said Reeves, who still found a way to score 20 points, setting a single-season school record for field goals made (276). "It was unfortunate it was tonight."

The game marked Reeves' last in an Arizona uniform _ probably the last time fans will see a UA jersey with the No. 3 on the court for awhile. Before looking ahead to next year, Coach Lute Olson said this team will not soon be forgotten by

"Unfortunately, the one thing that stands out the most is the one thing you're no longer in," said Olson, winless in his three trips to the Final Four. "The most difficult thing in the locker room after its over with and you're talking with your team is the realization on the part of everyone in there that this is the last of it as far as your team is Read Next Article