St. Louis ? Missed shots. Inopportune turnovers. Too many fouls.

The negatives piled up for the Kansas Jayhawks like Jarrett Jack baskets, adding up to a 79-71 overtime loss Sunday in a regional final of the NCAA Tournament.

And, for the first time in three years, KU fans were left to look ahead to next season without first getting a taste of the Final Four.

“It makes me sick,” Kin Vinson said as Georgia Tech players cut down the nets at the Edward Jones Dome. “But we’ll be back next year. We’ll have more talent next year. And we’ll have more depth.”

Sunday’s loss left hundreds of KU fans with undesirable tasks to tackle in the coming days, starting with the drive home from St. Louis but including the canceling of airline reservations and selling of Final Four tickets for this weekend’s big games in San Antonio.

“We just didn’t play as well as we could play today,” said Bobby Douglass, an All-America quarterback for KU’s 1968 Orange Bowl team, in town from Chicago for the game. “It’s a big letdown, but that happens. You don’t always play your best. I’m just pretty upset, because we had a good enough team.”

KU had entered the tournament as an unexpected No. 4 seed, lacking any marquee victories and hamstrung by regular-season losses to the likes of Richmond and Nevada.

But the Jayhawks’ early tournament surge — three decisive wins to give KU three straight Elite Eight appearances for the first time in school history — had injected hope into the thousands of crimson-and-blue faithful in the announced crowd of 30,648.

And when KU pushed the game into overtime, after having trailed virtually the entire afternoon, fans were dreaming of another Final Four.

Kansas fans argue an official's call during the game against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets ended the Jayhawks' bid for a third straight Final Four on Sunday in St. Louis.

But the Yellow Jackets — driven by Jack’s 29 points on eight-of-12 shooting, plus 13 of 14 free throws — left KU fans to look ahead only to the 2005 Final Four, to be played in the same Edward Jones Dome that had served as the site of Sunday’s sadness.

“We sure hope to be here next year,” Chancellor Robert Hemenway said. “We’ve got a great group of talented young men coming back again. We know, from the game today, that they’ve got heart. So we’ll start the season off next year the way we always do: expecting to get to the Final Four.”

Justin Anderson, a Lawrence dentist who watched the game with his wife, Jean, said that KU had played well beyond expectations this year, which he had considered a “transition” period given the departure of longtime coach Roy Williams and arrival of new coach Bill Self.

But the pain of Sunday’s loss should wear off soon enough, Anderson said.

“I think we’ve got as good of a chance next year as anybody,” Anderson said, his voice hoarse from the weekend’s games. “I would be surprised if we’re not in the top two or three in the preseason. We’ve got a great crop of returning players, and great freshmen coming in. And we’ve got great coaches.”

But as bright as the future looks, Anderson still laments what could have been.

“It’s going to be a long drive back,” he said.

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