Atlanta ? Drew Gooden’s All-America season ended in disappointment.

Now, Kansas fans will have to wait to see if Gooden’s college career has ended as well.

“It’s going to be a tough decision,” KU’s junior forward said after Maryland defeated Kansas, 97-88, Saturday night in a national semifinal game at Georgia Dome. “Nobody wants their career to end like this. I have to think about it. I’ll sit down with my family, and we’ll come up with something.”

The Richmond, Calif., product has one year of eligibility remaining, and Gooden’s parents have said that they want him to stay in school. The Big 12 player of the year likely would be a lottery pick, however, if he opted to enter the 2002 NBA draft.

The Jayhawks had hoped to reach Monday night’s final against Indiana and give coach Roy Williams his first national championship. Will falling short of that goal influence Gooden’s decision?

“It might because I want to win so bad,” said Gooden, who gave no timetable for when he might make a choice or an announcement. “Let’s see what happens.”

Gooden, who averaged 20 points and 11.5 rebounds a game, was held to 15 points and nine rebounds in 28 foul-plagued minutes. He had two of his first three shots blocked by UM forward Chris Wilcox. Center Lonny Baxter rejected the other.

“Wilcox’s blocks, I think, were really significant early,” Williams said. “It took us out of sync a little bit.”

Gooden disagreed.

“It didn’t affect me,” he said. “One game I had my shot blocked five times, and I finished with 25.”

Gooden picked up two early fouls and scored just four first-half points. The Jayhawks trailed 44-37 at the break.

“I couldn’t get in a groove,” Gooden said. “I had a bad game.”

UM’s post players might have had something to do with that.

“Wilcox is really athletic,” Gooden said. “Lonny Baxter is a banger, and Tahj Holden came in and made some great plays for them.”

Gooden came out of the game with four points and four fouls with 10:37 remaining. Starting guard Kirk Hinrich picked up his fourth foul 15 seconds later and joined Gooden on the bench with Maryland leading, 68-55.

The Jayhawks didn’t quit, though. Gooden and Hinrich checked back in with 7:30 to play, and Gooden scored six points in a 19-4 run that sliced the Terrapins’ lead to 87-82 with 2:04 to play.

“We got back in it,” Gooden said. “We were playing the worst basketball we possibly could. I had the worst game of my life on the wrong day, and it felt like we could still do something. We were still in the game.”

Two costly turnovers and a technical foul sealed KU’s fate.

Gooden said the loss shouldn’t overshadow KU’s 33-4 season, which included a perfect 16-0 run through the Big 12 Conference and the program’s first Final Four trip in nine years.

“I’m proud of this team,” he said. “I’m proud of what we accomplished this year and of what coach accomplished this year.”