Austin, Texas ? The foundation for the Texas Longhorns’ Final Four team was in place long before star guard T.J. Ford showed up.

The swagger, desire and nucleus of talent coach Rick Barnes needed to build a great team arrived a year earlier with Brian Boddicker, Royal Ivey, James Thomas and Brandon Mouton.

Barnes got each player to sign with Texas by convincing them basketball could be special at a football school.

“He called Texas a sleeping giant,” said Boddicker, the first McDonald’s high school All-American to sign with Barnes at Texas.

“Now we are emerging as a giant.”

Thomas said the core group of players has taken the program to new heights.

“When we came in as freshmen, we said we’d be on top,” he said. “The hard work is not done. We have another year, and this weekend.”

Texas plays Syracuse in the NCAA national semifinals Saturday in New Orleans. Kansas University and Marquette play in the other game.

The Longhorns haven’t been to the Final Four since 1946. It was Barnes who challenged them to wake up a program in a perpetual snooze.

“I picked them to win the national championship,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “I hope I’m wrong.”

When Barnes took over the program in 1998, he could see potential at a flagship university with more than 50,000 students, a deep pool of in-state high school talent and a winning athletic tradition.

Texas coach Rick Barnes, left, jokes with T.J. Ford during practice. Ford might be the leader of the Longhorns, but the foundation for the Final Four team was there before he ever got to campus.

He just needed to find the players who shared his vision.

Boddicker was one of the first players he recruited. Boddicker led Duncanville High to a Texas Class 5A state championship and was considering offers from several schools nationwide.

He was the multiple skills player Barnes needed: Big enough to rebound and post up inside, he can also step out for three-pointers.

Boddicker was sold on Barnes and Texas basketball

“From the moment I first met coach Barnes, all he talked about was winning a national championship,” he said. “I saw where the program was going and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Thomas, Mouton and Ivey all were less heralded.

The Longhorns found Thomas at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. Ivey was at a prep school in New York and Mouton was a top scorer for his AAU team in Louisiana.

With his floppy braids, tattooed arms and broad shoulders, Thomas brought an intensity to rebounding as tough as Barnes had ever seen. In a league known for its physical play, Thomas led the Big 12 in rebounding this season with 11.1 a game.

“The first time that you saw James Thomas you said you want that,” Barnes said. “His intensity, his ability and desire to go rebound the ball don’t come along often.”