No. 2 seed North Carolina opens up its NCAA Tournament run on Friday against No. 15 seed Lipscomb at 2:45 p.m. ET. Ahead of their first-round game, the Tar Heels paid tribute to the late Woody Durham by sporting warm-ups that read "WOODY" across the back of their t-shirts.
Tar Heels wearing a tribute to longtime UNC announcer Woody Durham on their warmup shirts. Very cool. pic.twitter.com/rfATmpKjjj
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) March 16, 2018
Durham, who was the voice of North Carolina basketball from 1981-2011, passed away on March 7 at the age of 76. But he was more than just a play-by-play announcer. As Chip Patterson laid out in Durham's obituary, Durham was the soundtrack to some of UNC's most iconic memories; he was involved in more than 1,800 football and men's basketball games as the voice of UNC, including 13 men's Final Fours and six national championship games.
The Tar Heels are looking to repeat as national champions after taking down Gonzaga in the title game last season. They are one of the favorites to emerge out of the West Regional that includes 1-seed Xavier, 3-seed Michigan and 4-seed Gonzaga.
