For Texas men’s basketball, Detroit is more than just a city. It’s the final destination.

It’s in the players’ group chats, displayed on the practice scoreboard and is often discussed in the program. Although the Longhorns have yet to tip off the regular season, the site of the 2027 Final Four has already become omnipresent in the locker room.

“That’s always our biggest thing. We’re playing to get to Detroit,” freshman guard Austin Goosby said. “Most of our group chats are actually called Detroit because that’s the end goal. And so it’s always just in the back of our minds.”

The reminders don’t go away when the phones are put down.

Before each practice, Detroit’s area code, 313, appears on the scoreboard. It stares down on the players, a reminder of the program’s ultimate ambition.

“That’s all they talk about is the national championship,” sophomore guard Isaiah Johnson said. “It’s just pretty much like manifesting and putting it out there, and knowing that we can achieve that.”

For a program that hasn’t reached the Final Four since 2003, the goal is ambitious. But last season, after finishing 10th in the Southeastern Conference and falling in its opening game of the SEC Tournament, Texas made an unexpected run to the Sweet 16.

Now, head coach Sean Miller enters his second year with a largely reconstructed roster, a No. 2 ranking in the SEC preseason media poll and aspirations of taking another step forward.

“I’m sure it’s a lot of teams’ goals, but we actually genuinely believe we can do it,” freshman guard Bo Ogden said. “We have the squad that we need. It’s definitely always in the back of our minds.”

Detroit is always there. But getting there requires more than belief. It will require sacrifice.

For a roster featuring 11 newcomers, players recognize that reaching the Final Four requires putting individual ambitions aside.

“Everybody can’t want to be ‘The Guy,’” sophomore guard Amari Evans said. “Everybody can’t want to take one shot. … If I was gonna play 35 (minutes) here, I gotta be willing to play 29 (minutes) here: just for the greater good of the team.”

This sentiment is echoed by Johnson, who transferred to Texas after a productive season at Colorado, where he led the Buffaloes in points per game at 16.9.

“Everybody’s got to make a sacrifice to get where we want to get to,” Johnson said. “We’re all buying into our roles, all accepting our roles to get to that national championship.”

Part of what brought Johnson to Austin in the first place was his pursuit of a national championship. Despite his impressive numbers, Colorado finished 17-16 and missed the NCAA Tournament. Johnson wanted more.

“Last year, I put up the numbers and stats,” Johnson said. “But ultimately my team didn’t win as many games as I wanted us to. That’s why I came here to win a national championship.”

But with the regular season yet to begin, there’s still plenty of work ahead.

For Goosby, that means focusing on the small improvements that could inch Texas closer to Detroit.

“After every practice, we feel like we got a little better,” Goosby said. “After every practice, you’re not going to get 100 times better, but you might get 1% better.”

Whether it’s group chat titles, a number on the scoreboard or conversations in the locker room, the message remains the same: Detroit is the goal.