For Texas men\u2019s basketball, Detroit is more than just a city. It\u2019s the final destination.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s in the players\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s always our biggest thing. We\u2019re playing to get to Detroit,\u201d freshman guard Austin Goosby said. \u201cMost of our group chats are actually called Detroit because that\u2019s the end goal. And so it\u2019s always just in the back of our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reminders don\u2019t go away when the phones are put down.<\/p>\n
Before each practice, Detroit\u2019s area code, 313, appears on the scoreboard. It stares down on the players, a reminder of the program\u2019s ultimate ambition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all they talk about is the national championship,\u201d sophomore guard Isaiah Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just pretty much like manifesting and putting it out there, and knowing that we can achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a program that hasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s a lot of teams\u2019 goals, but we actually genuinely believe we can do it,\u201d freshman guard Bo Ogden said. \u201cWe have the squad that we need. It\u2019s definitely always in the back of our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detroit is always there. But getting there requires more than belief. It will require sacrifice.<\/p>\n
For a roster featuring 11 newcomers, players recognize that reaching the Final Four requires putting individual ambitions aside.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody can\u2019t want to be \u2018The Guy,\u2019\u201d sophomore guard Amari Evans said. \u201cEverybody can\u2019t want to take one shot. \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s got to make a sacrifice to get where we want to get to,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019re all buying into our roles, all accepting our roles to get to that national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, I put up the numbers and stats,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut ultimately my team didn\u2019t win as many games as I wanted us to. That\u2019s why I came here to win a national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
But with the regular season yet to begin, there\u2019s still plenty of work ahead.<\/p>\n
For Goosby, that means focusing on the small improvements that could inch Texas closer to Detroit.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter every practice, we feel like we got a little better,\u201d Goosby said. \u201cAfter every practice, you\u2019re not going to get 100 times better, but you might get 1% better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s group chat titles, a number on the scoreboard or conversations in the locker room, the message remains the same: Detroit is the goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Texas men\u2019s basketball, Detroit is more than just a city. It\u2019s the final destination. It\u2019s in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-466284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}