Washington— Dennis Felton chose his words carefully because he was clearly moved by the question:

What will be the legacy of Sundiata Gaines on the Georgia basketball program?

Gaines saw his college basketball career at Georgia come to an end on Thursday when the Bulldogs lost to Xavier 73-61 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The senior from Jamaica, N.Y., was not only Georgia's best player for four seasons. He was their spiritual leader as well. And now it was time to say goodbye.

Felton immediately talked about his early days at Georgia, when he was hired to clean up the program in the wake of the Jim Harrick regime. Landing Gaines was a big step back to respectability.

"He sort of ushered us through the most difficult period in Georgia basketball history, beginning with his choice to come to Georgia," Felton said. "When it was hard to get anybody to even talk to us, he made the decision to come with us."

Gaines said his teammates were the glue that held everything together when things could have easily fallen apart. During one stretch this season Georgia lost 10 of 11 games. The Bulldogs were 4-12 in SEC play when the conference tournament started last week. Then Georgia proceeded to win four games in three days — the last three against teams (Kentucky, Mississippi State, Arkansas) bound for the NCAA tournament.

"Every guy on this team looks up to Sundiata. He never panicked so they never panicked," senior Dave Bliss said. "He never quit so they never quit."

It was a tough final game for Gaines, who led the Bulldogs in every major statistical category including minutes played (33.5 per game) this season. He was guarded by Stanley Burrell, the Atlantic 10 defensive player of the year, and found himself pushed and bumped at every turn. Despite playing 38 minutes Gaines, who shot 180 free throws in 33 previous games, did not get to the line a single time.

"Frustrating. Very frustrating," said Gaines, who made only 6 of 14 shots from the field (1 of 3 from 3-point range) and ended the game with 13 points. "I made some plays out there that I don't usually make. I think we lost our composure a little bit when they started making their run."

Georgia led by 11 points in the second half and by seven with less than 10 minutes remaining. But when Xavier turned up the defensive pressure and began its run, Georgia didn't have an answer.

"You could feel the game changing as they started getting a lot more aggressive on defense," Gaines said. "We just couldn't get to the basket. And when we got there we couldn't get the foul called."

Xavier shot 29 free throws in the second half. Georgia shot five.

"That's the way basketball is," Gaines said. "They were more aggressive in the second half and got us out of our game. We had our chance and we let it slip away But give Xavier credit. They are a good team."

Gaines is taking 20 hours this semester and is scheduled to graduate in May with a degree in Sociology. He said he hopes to play professional basketball but says he's ready for the next chapter, whatever it turns out to be.

"I'm just glad I was able to help get Georgia back to the NCAA tournament before I left," Gaines said. "I don't think anybody is going to forget this team. I know that I won't."