It took Kansas University’s basketball players a long time to forget last year’s season-ending loss to Maryland.

A very long time.

“I thought I’d finally put it behind me,” sophomore guard Keith Langford said of the Jayhawks’ 97-88 Final Four semifinal setback to the eventual national champions on March 30 in Atlanta. “Then I was working a basketball camp at my high school and a little kid came up to me and said, ‘Keith, why couldn’t you stop Juan Dixon?’ After that it started playing through my head again.”

Dixon’s 33-point performance pretty much did in the Jayhawks, who finished 33-4 overall and 16-0 in the Big 12 Conference.

“It’s still tough to live with,” KU power forward Wayne Simien said Monday, joining fellow sophomores Langford and Aaron Miles in a round-table discussion at Allen Fieldhouse as Friday’s season-opening Late Night With Roy Williams nears.

“All the great things we accomplished last year  getting there (to Final Four) and going 16-0  still the only thing people remember is us losing to Maryland. People come up to you and say, ‘What happened last year?’ You like to think we accomplished a lot, but the last thing we remember is we lost to Maryland. The last feeling I had is the sour feeling I had sitting in the locker room after Maryland.

“I had to live with it all summer. It’s one of the reasons I’m so anxious to get started, to get back on the road south to New Orleans.”

New Orleans is the site of the 2003 Final Four. It’s taken time for the Jayhawks to forget about Atlanta.

Miles went home to Portland, Ore., after attending the first session of summer school. The point guard said the months following the loss to the Terps were difficult.

“This summer I was home and happened to be watching the Maryland game,” he said. “I got mad at the end. It was like a little bit of anger. I wanted the season to start right then, or be able to have that game over. I think we could have done better that game. I believe we should have a championship under our belt.”

KU is expected to field another Final Four contender this season, which starts Friday night with Late Night. Doors will open at 6 p.m. with pre-midnight scrimmage activities to start about 10 p.m.

“In a way I took it for granted because I was a freshman,” Langford said of last season’s Final Four appearance. “I was thinking, ‘It’s easy to get back again,’ but it’s not. I’ll take the mindset into this season I’ll have to work much harder because it’ll take a a lot of work and a little bit of luck.”

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Dove is out: Marcus Dove, a 6-foot-7 forward from Long Beach, Calif., told analyst Greg Swaim that Kansas is no longer recruiting him. Dove, who had earlier planned on attending Late Night, is considering Oklahoma State and Arizona State.

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Padgett will be here: David Padgett, who committed to KU last week, is planning to attend his first Late Night. The 6-11 recruit from Reno, Nev., last Wednesday chose KU over North Carolina and Arizona.

“It was not easy at all. I was split between the two,” Padgett said of KU and UNC. “At the end Kansas was the best.”

The recruiting battle pitted buddies Williams and his former assistant, Matt Doherty, against each other.

“All they did was compliment each other,” Padgett said.

Assistant sports editor Gary Bedore can be reached at 832-7186.