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Athletics

‘We love this team’

Hundreds of Carolina faithful gathered outside the Smith Center on March 30 to wish the Tar Heels luck before they begin their final stretch toward trying to earn the program’s sixth NCAA championship.

No matter the weather or the time of night, Linda Woodard is normally the first face the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team sees when it returns home from an away game.

And as the team departed for Saturday’s NCAA Final Four, Woodard – a stand-out in the crowd with her gold-rimmed glasses and Carolina-blue tinted ivory hair — made certain she was one of the last faces the team saw before heading to Houston.

“I’m a huge fan,” she said. “I like these kids.”

Woodard and hundreds of other Carolina faithful gathered outside the Smith Center on March 30 to wish the Tar Heels luck before they begin their final stretch toward trying to earn the program’s sixth NCAA championship.

Carolina, the lone remaining No. 1 seed, will play 10th-seeded Syracuse on Saturday.

Wearing Carolina blue, fans hoisted homemade signs and reached for high-fives and fist-bumps with players and coaches as the team made its way from the Smith Center to the bus.

“It’s to make them comfortable,” said Tar Heel fan Timothy Guthrie. “They have to be comfortable when they leave so that they know they have support behind them.”

Among the sea of well-wishers were sisters Maura and Caroline Dula, who travelled two-and-a-half hours from Lenior, North Carolina, just to see the team off. After cheering for the Tar Heels in the Smith Center 11 times this year, the two said they couldn’t miss the opportunity to cheer for the team one last time before the biggest game of the season.

“We love Carolina,” Maura Dula said. “Born and raised. We love this team.”

Although the team has left for Houston, there will be plenty of ways to cheer on the Tar Heels back in Chapel Hill.

Saturday evening, fans are invited to watch the game inside the Smith Center. Both the Oklahoma-Villanova game at 6:09 p.m., and the Carolina-Syracuse game at 8:49 p.m. will be shown on a large projection screen and the Smith Center video boards.  Doors for students, faculty and staff will open at 5 p.m., and at 5:30 p.m. for the general public.

Guthrie will be watching the game from his house in Durham, but should the Tar Heels come home with a national championship, he already has his space staked out just outside the Smith Center to welcome the team back.

“I’m going to be the first one out here,” he said. “I’m going to camp out here. I already got me a spot. I’m going to put a tent out here.”

Woodard, meanwhile, plans to  celebrate the same way she has for the last four championships.

“I’ll probably be on Franklin Street like ‘82, ‘93, ‘05 and ‘09,” she said. “I want to be here on Franklin Street of ‘16.”