College Basketball Teams That Most Need to Get Healthy for 2018 NCAA Tournament

No matter how hard you prepare or stock the cabinet, injuries will always play a role in sports. Well, injuries and referees.

As we head into conference tourney season, several Big Dance-caliber teams are floundering because of injuries to key players. In some cases, it's a major nosedive caused by the loss of a bona fide star. In others, it's a more subtle impact.

Here are the teams that most need to get healthy as March looms.

For the record, this does not include teams that have lost players for the season. It will focus on squads that still have a chance to regain full strength, or close to it, by Selection Sunday.

Marvin Bagley III, Forward, Duke

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On Sunday, Marvin Bagley III missed his third straight game with a "mild" right knee sprain. 

The super-frosh leads the Blue Devils in both points (21.2 per game) and rebounds (11.4). Impressively, Duke has gone undefeated in its Bagley-less contests, including Sunday against then-11th-ranked Clemson. 

Wendell Carter Jr. has helped pick up the slack down low (15 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks against Clemson), while Grayson Allen continues to pour in points from the perimeter (22.3 per game since Bagley's departure, well over his 15.1 average).

There's no hard timetable for Bagley's return or any sense of how well he might play once he's back.

Keenan Evans, Guard, Texas Tech

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Texas Tech is still looking good for the tournament. According to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, the Red Raiders are projected for a No. 3 seed.

However, on Saturday in a 59-57 loss to Baylor, they may have lost their leading scorer in senior guard Keenan Evans. Evans suffered some kind of toe injury in the first half. He did not return and is listed as day-to-day. 

Evans is Texas Tech's top scorer by a wide margin—18.2 points per contest compared to the 10.8 per game from Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith. They're still 22-5 and tied for sixth in the AP top 25, but with big showdowns looming with Kansas and West Virginia, that position is precarious if Evans can't return.

Phil Booth, Guard, Villanova

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Every college hoops fan remembers Phil Booth, whose clutch play helped lift Villanova to the national title. 

Now the defending champs and No. 3-ranked team are without one of its top players after Booth broke a bone in his right hand. He is out indefinitely.

Booth is fourth on the team in scoring (11.6), third in assists (3.2) and fifth in rebounds (3.3). Outside of Booth, only five players log an average of 20 minutes or more per game.

Donte DiVincenzo has played well in his absence, but you know Villanova would love to see its stalwart junior back in the fold.

Shelton Mitchell, Guard, Clemson

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The Tigers' junior point guard went down when he took a shot to the head on Valentine's Day against Florida State. He's in concussion protocol with an uncertain timeline.

No. 15 Clemson has only played one game without Mitchell (a loss to Duke), but head coach Brad Brownell acknowledged that his absence may have had a deleterious effect.

Top scorer Marcquise Reed is now handling more of the ball-handling duties, but that could cut into his scoring chances. In the meantime, Brownell isn't sure when Mitchell might return, even as he fends off questions about remaking the roster on the eve of the stretch run.

"I haven't talked to anybody in the medical staff," Brownell told Grace Raynor of the Post and Courier on Monday. "[But] we're not reinventing ourselves, obviously, just because of the injury. We haven't had enough time to do any of that—I don't know that we would change drastically what we're doing."

Vincent Edwards, Forward, Purdue

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He has only missed one game thus far, but Vincent Edwards' injured ankle has to be a concern for Boilermakers fans.

Edwards missed Sunday's win over Penn State because of the ankle, and there's no word on his return yet, other than that he is questionable for all remaining regular-season games.

Edwards is Purdue's second-leading scorer (14.9) while leading the team in rebounds (7.8). Given the No. 9 Boilermakers' post-reliant style of play, they can ill afford to lose their top post presence for any length of time.

Michael Porter Jr., Forward, Missouri

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The Tigers have been fine without their prized freshman. They've gone 18-9 with a tough schedule, even as Michael Porter Jr. has watched from the bench.

A lower back surgery in November is to blame, but coach Cuonzo Martin isn't ruling out a return before the end of the season. 

As Porter is projected as a high-lottery draft pick, his return would be a massive boon to Mizzou, taking a good team and making it potentially something great. Given how rarely those chances come along for teams outside of Kentucky, Kansas and Tobacco Road, fans have to be eager to see circumstances fall into place.