SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - After the greatest two-season run in team history, fans of Washington State are left with one question: What about next year?

Will coach Tony Bennett return for a third season? Will returning players Aron Baynes, Taylor Rochestie and Daven Harmeling be able to fill the holes left by Derrick Low, Kyle Weaver and Robbie Cowgill?

How good are the recruits that WSU's success is luring to the Palouse?

Bennett didn't provide a lot of clarity after the Cougars' 68-47 loss to North Carolina in the Round of 16 Thursday evening that ended their season with a 26-9 record.

"Right now, I'm the coach at Washington State. I want to talk about the seniors," he said outside the locker room.

Bennett has already been linked to the opening at Indiana, and with a 52-17 record in two seasons at WSU, other schools are certain to come calling.

After last season, Bennett signed a seven-year contract that pays him upward of $700,000 per year.

The loss of Low, Weaver and Cowgill to graduation removes the heart and soul of the class that turned WSU from perennial losers into a Top 25 program.

Those players led the Cougars to the first back-to-back NCAA appearances in the program's 107-year history. The 26 wins each season tied the team record set in 1941.

The Cougars also drew more than 9,000 fans per game to Friel Court, once one of the emptier venues in the Pacific-10.

The top returnees figure to be Baynes (10 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game), a big center who played with lots of tenacity, but was frequently in foul trouble.

Harmeling was a sporadic contributor, mostly as a 3-point specialist,

Rochestie (10 points per game, nearly 5 rebounds per game) turned himself into one of the Cougars' most dependable players. He also turned in the season's biggest assist when he agreed to give up his scholarship for next year so the team could sign prized recruit Marcus Capers, a 6-foot-4 guard from Montverde Academy near Orlando, Fla.

Rochestie said he made the decision because his family can afford to pay the approximately $25,000 cost of going to the Pullman-based school.

In addition to Capers, Washington State signed four high school seniors in November, including the son of former NBA star Mychal Thompson, to national letters of intent. Klay Thompson, Marcus Capers, Michael Harthun, James Watson and Nick Witherill will join the team for next season.