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When North Carolina guard Kendall Marshall fractured his wrist in Sunday's win against Creighton, it was momentarily easy to forget Marshall isn't the most talented or productive player on his team. There's Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes and John Henson, and that's just for starters. So why is losing Marshall such a big deal?

Because he is, without question, UNC's most important player. The most efficient? No. The most gifted? Probably not. But there's little question Marshall -- with his visionary, table-setting passing (second nationally in assists), intelligent tempo management and offensive initiation, and the lack of a viable backup -- was/is the most crucial personnel component to Carolina's style, identity and ultimately success.

Which got us thinking: Who is everyone else's Marshall? Who's the most indispensable player on each of the Sweet 16 rosters, the one each team could least afford to lose? Well, we're glad you (OK, we) asked. Here's what we came up with:

South Region

No. 1 Kentucky: Anthony Davis, forward -- No overthinking this one. Sure, there's an argument to be made for Marquis Teague, who appeared for much of the season to be Kentucky's lone potential weakness; Teague's two months of consistently increased success -- culminating in a brilliant performance in a rout of Iowa State -- have cast doubts about whether he could be easily replaced. But one can envision a scenario in which guard Doron Lamb, whose ballhandling is probably slightly underrated at this point, would be able to get UK into its offense. Coach John Calipari would find a way to make it work. Without Davis, the Cats lose a downright transcendent shot-blocking force and the source of countless easy baskets on the other end of the floor, the type of player who opposing coaches frequently say "changes the game." It's Davis, and it's hard to find the counterintuitive argument here.

No. 3 Baylor: Quincy Acy, forward -- While not the most talented big man in Baylor's lineup, Acy's absence would irreparably harm the Bears for two obvious reasons: He scores easy buckets in the low block, and he rebounds. Perry Jones III does some of these same things, too, but hardly to the level Acy does (and not nearly as consistently), and the Bears -- a very good offensive rebounding team that struggles on the defensive glass -- would not be nearly as good on offense were Acy not around to clean up so many misses.

No. 4 Indiana: Cody Zeller, forward -- Again, no use in overthinking this. Zeller is by far IU's leader in offensive efficiency and rebounding, and he has changed the way the Hoosiers -- who were immensely foul-prone the past three years under Tom Crean -- guard the rim and chase down misses. Plus, without him, Indiana's big man rotation would consist of Tom Pritchard and Derek Elston. We've seen that movie before. It was not critically acclaimed.

No. 10 Xavier: Kenny Frease, center -- Sticking with the all-big-men theme here, Frease is the most indispensable player because Xavier really doesn't have another guy who can do what he does, primarily on the glass. If star guard Tu Holloway went missing, the Musketeers would certainly lack for offensive creativity, but they'd have another talented (if mercurial) guard in Mark Lyons, who would no doubt be more than willing to hoist a few extra shots. Without Frease, Chris Mack's team would be in no-man's-land on the low block.

West Region

No. 1 Michigan State: Draymond Green, forward -- When you do this much for your team, your membership on this list requires no explanation. Really, it's not even close.

No. 3 Marquette: Darius Johnson-Odom, guard -- Jae Crowder's breakout senior season has been a huge factor in this team's success, no doubt about it. But DJO's relentless, attacking, bruising style -- not to mention his all-court game, his lockdown perimeter defense and his ability to go end-to-end on the fast break both with rim finishes and pull-up jumpers -- gives this Marquette team its hard-won identity.

No. 4 Louisville: Gorgui Dieng, forward -- I promise, this list isn't all forwards. The obvious answer here is Peyton Siva, but the Cardinals already have a pretty willing on-ball defender and shot-happy penetrator in guard Russ Smith, while Dieng -- a crazy-lanky shot-blocker, rebounder and defensive anchor -- has keyed so much of the Cards' No. 2-ranked per-possession defense this season.

No. 7 Florida: Kenny Boynton, guard -- The original temptation was to go with another big man, in this case Patric Young, but let's be real: The Gators don't use their frontcourt on offense anyway. Which is why Boynton's ability not only to take a lot of long-range jumpers but actually make them at a high rate is so important. That isn't always the case with the rest of this backcourt. Plus, Boynton -- with the possible exception of Bradley Beal -- happens to be Florida's most creative scorer off the dribble, one of the Gators' few players who can do more than chuck long-range shots to fuel this high-powered offense.

Midwest Region

No. 1 North Carolina: Kendall Marshall, guard -- By now, you get the idea.

No. 2 Kansas: Tyshawn Taylor, guard -- The obvious choice is Thomas Robinson and, you know, duh: Dude's a national player of the year candidate for a reason. But at this stage of the season, Kansas' ability to win a national title rests in large part on Taylor's play at the point guard spot. If he is on -- attacking the rim and finding teammates without coughing up turnovers -- he's truly the biggest X factor on Bill Self's team. If he's off, the Jayhawks turn to Elijah Johnson, Travis Releford and ... Conner Teahan? The defense rests.

No. 11 North Carolina State: Lorenzo Brown, guard -- C.J. Leslie has blossomed into this team's most impressive player, but its point guard deserves as much if not more credit for the unlikely late-season Sweet 16 run this Wolfpack team has somehow managed to piece together. On a team with no tournament experience and plenty of young players, Brown's calming influence on the ball is a major asset.

No. 13 Ohio: D.J. Cooper, guard -- Cooper demonstrated his worth with huge shots down the stretch against a South Florida team that prides itself on disallowing exactly the kind of offensive display Cooper generated. For a team with the No. 2-ranked opponents' turnover percentage in the country, Cooper's 4.3 percent steals rate (the 22nd-ranked individual mark in the country) truly makes it go.

East Region

No. 1 Syracuse: C.J. Fair, forward -- It's hard to pick from Syracuse's still-stacked-minus-Fab lineup, but Fair gets the nod. With all due respect to Scoop Jardine, Dion Waiters, Kris Joseph and Brandon Triche, the Orange wouldn't exactly hurt for scoring guards were one of them to suffer an injury. If Fair went down, Jim Boeheim would lose his last truly effective big man, and the only viable interior option this side of Rakeem Christmas and Baye Keita.

No. 2 Ohio State: William Buford, guard -- This is a bit of a tricky one, because there's simply no replacing Jared Sullinger's interior prowess or Aaron Craft's incredible perimeter defense. But if OSU is truly a national title threat -- and it looks the part thus far -- that's because Buford, who struggled with his shot in nearly every Ohio State loss this season, isn't cashing in from the perimeter. Having Buford as a go-to option on the outside only aids Sullinger's load and takes as much pressure off Craft and the rest of the Buckeyes as possible. The senior has to score efficiently for this team to make a run. Simple as that.

No. 4 Wisconsin: Jordan Taylor, guard -- Again: No overthinking required, no explanation needed. May a resounding duh ring forth across the land.

No. 6 Cincinnati: Yancy Gates, forward -- With all due respect to Sean Kilpatrick, who has quietly become one of the stars of the tournament, the Bearcats would be a team full of guards with no interior punch (sorry) were it not for the indomitable Gates. Losing Kilpatrick would be a major blow, but lineup and skill-set facsimiles abound. Not so with Gates. He's crucial.

ATLANTA -- To those who still think North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall is a one-dimensional player: Take that.

With the score knotted at 67 in Saturday's ACC tournament semifinal, and teammate Harrison Barnes unable to find much breathing room against NC State, Marshall played the role of game-winner. After Barnes passed the ball back to him, Marshall drove, shouldered into Wolfpack guard Alex Johnson (which had State fans and coach Mark Gottfried screaming “charge!”), and banked in a roughly-8-foot shot with 10.2 seconds left.

Marshall (who set the ACC record for assists in a season on Friday) finished with 12 points and 10 assists, the first time a Tar Heel has ever recorded three consecutive point-assist double-double games.

“The way most people tell it, I’m one-dimensional; all I can do is pass, I can’t defend, I can’t score,’’ Marshall said. “But my job is to go out there and play basketball, and find a way to help my team win. And I felt like I did a pretty good job for the most part today.”

STATE SHOULD BE IN: If UNC coach Roy Williams had a vote, NC State would make the NCAA tournament.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re one of the top 68 teams in the country,’’ said Williams.

The Wolfpack fell to 22-12 with the loss, and entered the tournament on the bubble. But ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had them projected as one of the teams earning an at-large bid as of Saturday afternoon.

WE’VE SEEN THIS BEFORE: Once again, UNC wing Reggie Bullock stymied Scott Wood into a frustrating day. NC State’s second-leading scorer finished with 2 points on 1-for-6 shooting.

In this season's previous meetings between the teams, Bullock helped hold Wood to 4-for-12 and 1-for-5 shooting, respectively.

“Reggie’s done a great job three times this year of really making it tough on him,’’ Marshall said.

ONE MORE POSITION? Senior Justin Watts has played four positions in the past, and played all four in one game Saturday. But he’s never played the "5" spot.

Has the 6-foot-5 wing earned the right to play it for maybe 30 seconds at some point, starting "5" Tyler Zeller was asked?

Zeller laughed. “He could probably do it for 30 seconds; he’s a little undersized for that position, though.”

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter.

ATLANTA – According to North Carolina coach Roy Williams, star forward John Henson was feeling better Saturday after spraining his left wrist Friday.

But still not well enough to play during the Tar Heels' ACC tournament semifinal win over NC State.

And his status for Sunday’s championship game against Florida State will again be a game-time decision.

“He said today that he feels considerably better than he did yesterday,’’ Williams said after UNC’s 69-67 victory. “Now, is it going to improve at that same rate by tomorrow? I personally have my doubts, but we’ll just go with the same policy, the same procedure, tomorrow.”

Saturday, UNC’s procedure was to tape the wrist in the locker room once the team arrived at Philips Arena, and judge how Henson felt gripping a basketball, and trying to dribble it and catch it.

“If he had any pain or he felt uncomfortable, then we weren’t going to play him,’’ Williams said. “If he didn’t have pain or didn’t feel very uncomfortable, I was going to let him warm up, and then watch him as closely as I could and make the determination of whether he would be effective. And it didn’t get to that stage because John didn’t feel very comfortable.

“If it had been the Final Four, I think he probably would have played. But … that’s not Ol’ Roy stating anything about this tournament, that’s just a fact.”

Without Henson, freshman forward James Michael McAdoo started; he finished with 9 points but was in foul trouble most of the second half.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

ATLANTA -- Out of the corner of his eye, North Carolina senior Justin Watts saw someone doing jumping jacks under the basket.

He didn’t know who it was, and with about three seconds left and his team leading NC State by two points Saturday, he didn’t really care: “All I knew was that I had to get there -- fast.”

So sprinting harder than several teammates had ever seen him sprint before, the 6-foot-5 athlete cut off NC State junior Scott Wood’s pass to an open DeShawn Painter, grabbed a steal, and threw it to the other end of the Phillips Arena Court.

“JWatts probably made the biggest play of the game,’’ North Carolina coach Roy Williams said after his team survived one last desperation play to beat the Wolfpack 69-67; the Tar Heels advanced to their 31st ACC tournament title game, where they will play Florida State on Sunday.

It was probably the biggest play, and game, of Watts' career, too.

Many will credit UNC’s 13th straight victory over rival NC State to point guard Kendall Marshall’s 8-foot bank shot with 10.2 seconds left -- a controversial play that had Wolfpack fans (and coach Mark Gottfried) screaming “charge!” after the sophomore put a shoulder into State’s Alex Johnson on his drive toward the hoop.

But even Marshall gave the kudos to Watts, who played four different positions because forward John Henson (sprained wrist) was sidelined and so many others were in foul trouble.

“He does so many things that so many people might not notice, might not appreciate,’’ said Marshall, who finished with 12 points and 10 assists. “But hopefully … people can see how big he came up for us in this game.”

Indeed, when Marshall picked up his second foul, Watts -- a natural wing -- spent some time at point guard.

“I was just catching and pitching ahead; I wasn’t trying to do much,’’ said Watts, who had played only one other (short) stretch this season at the ‘1.’ “When you’ve got guys to throw it into like [Tyler] Zeller and Harrison [Barnes], they make you look a lot better than you are."

And when UNC freshman James Michael McAdoo (making his first career start with Henson sidelined) picked up his fourth foul, Watts found himself playing power forward and guarding 6-8 star forward C.J. Leslie.

“He’s taller than me, so I just tried to use my quickness to stay in front of him,’’ Watts said.

That became key with 8:35 left, when Watts slid in front of Leslie to draw Leslie’s fourth foul (the second of three infractions for which the Wolfpack sophomore was called in a 91-second span, resulting in his fouling out). It was another whistle that had Wolfpack fans screaming in fury.

“In terms of calls, I think the final [tally] was something like 23-19, so you can’t really complain that was lopsided,’’ Barnes (16 points), who drew the fifth foul on Leslie (22 points), said. “They were calling it pretty tight, but for good reason -- you don’t want to let UNC-NC State get out of hand.”

It was a frenetic battle, though, one that saw 15 lead changes, one coat-shuck (by Gottfried), and several rare possessions of zone defense by the Tar Heels.

Zeller led UNC with 23 points, but he too credited Watts for doing so many important things in the victory. The reserve made only 1 of his 4 shots, but also had four rebounds, an assist and three steals -- including that key, racing grab in the final seconds.

“He fills so many roles for us,” Williams said. “A tremendous leader, a tremendous young man, tremendous versatility. He’s been asked to do so many things this year … JWatts is not selfish. He cares about our team, and that’s an admirable quality to have. It’s a quality that’s going to be good for him the rest of his life.”

Asked why he’s so willing to fill so many roles, Watts, who tends to shun the spotlight, explained his reasoning: “I’ll do whatever it takes to help my team win.”

Perhaps that’s why, after the Wolfpack couldn’t convert on a desperation play with 1.2 seconds left, Watts grabbed the game ball -- the same one he had swiped not long before -- and briefly pressed it to his lips.

“I was kissing the ball because it bounced our way a couple of times,’’ he said. “I appreciate that ball.”

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

ATLANTA – North Carolina and Duke are still vying for a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

NC State is trying to solidify a spot in the field of 68.

And Florida State – which has already secured a spot in the NCAAs – would like to become only the second team not named “UNC” or “Duke” to win the ACC tournament in 16 years.

A quick preview of today’s NCAA semifinals at Philips Arena:

No. 1 seed North Carolina vs. No. 5 seed N.C. State, 1 p.m. EST

Will he play or won’t he play? The status of UNC forward John Henson’s left wrist – which he sprained in the first half of his team’s quarterfinal win over Maryland on Friday – hasn’t reached the scrutiny level of “Ty Lawson Toe-Gate”, circa 2009 (when the starting point guard sat out the entire ACC tournament, and part of the NCAAs, en route to a national title).

But give it time.

Official word Friday was that the 6-foot-11 junior would test his pain threshold Saturday morning to see if he would be able to play against the Wolfpack. But frankly, it would make sense to be cautious with the ACC’s leading rebounder, blocker and defender. UNC, after all, has wrapped up an NCAA tournament berth, and it’s just a matter of whether it ends up with a No. 1 or No. 2 seed.

If Henson doesn’t play, it opens up more room the lane for NC State forward C.J. Leslie, who has come on particularly strong of late. He’s averaging 18.9 points and 11 rebounds over his past seven games – including 19 points and 14 rebounds in Friday’s quarterfinal victory over Virginia.

“He [Henson] is a great player – first-team All-ACC, Defensive Player of the Year; we want him to play,’’ Wolfpack guard C.J. Williams said. “We don’t want to give a team an excuse, ‘Oh, we didn’t have one of our best players.’ He’s definitely a matchup problem for us, with his length and his size … but we want him to play.”

The Tar Heels beat their in-state rival in both match-ups this season.

No. 2 seed Duke vs. No. 3 seed Florida State, approximately 3:30 p.m. EST

Duke, which lost to Florida State on its home court in January, offered up a little bit of payback last month, when it beat the Seminoles in Tallahassee, Fla.

Guard Andre Dawkins was 6-for-12 for 22 points that game, with all six of those made shots being 3-pointers.

But since then, however, he’s made only 1 of his 12 shot attempts over his past four games. Not a good stat for the Blue Devils, especially since they are also missing forward Ryan Kelly for the ACC tournament because of a foot injury.

The key for FSU will be to limit Duke’s outside scoring while taking advantage of the Devils’ thin depth inside.

And if it’s close at the end, they have a couple of clutch options in Michael Snaer and Ian Miller, who have both buried game-winners this season.

“We know we have a tremendous opportunity to do something great,’’ Snaer said. “My team is really confident in our abilities, and we’re playing like it. We’re playing together. … We know how important this game is to us, and to our program and to the history of our program. And I can’t wait for it to get started.”

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A quick look at North Carolina’s 86-74 win at NC State.

Why it happened: NC State plays in spurts, but it didn’t play in enough of them against a hot-shooting Tar Heels team. North Carolina scorched the Wolfpack from beyond the arc, connecting on 10-of-19 3-pointers. UNC shot 53 percent from 3 and 51 percent overall.

What it means: NC State’s uncomfortable bubble seat just got a little more uncomfortable. The Wolfpack had three chances (at Duke, vs. FSU, vs. UNC) to make their case and failed in all three. Now NCSU has to win out against Clemson, Miami and Virginia Tech and hope for a little help from other bubble dwellers. North Carolina, meantime, is trying to build a case for a No. 1 seed, an argument that got a little stronger with Missouri’s loss to Kansas State. A lot still has to happen for the Heels to secure a top spot, but winning out will make it an interesting debate for the Selection Committee.

Star of the game: Kendall Marshall isn’t known for being a scorer. That doesn’t mean he can’t score. The North Carolina point guard had a career-high 22 points, 13 assists and most impressive, no turnovers. He was 4-of-5 from long range. Not much more you can ask a point guard to do.

For starters: North Carolina rode hot shooting from the 3-point line to stake a 46-41 lead at the half. The Tar Heels hit 7 of 14 from the behind the arc. But credit to the Wolfpack, which rallied from an early 10-2 hole to make this a game. C.J. Leslie, who needed to be big against UNC’s bigs, was in fact that. He had 14 and 7 in the first 20 minutes, helping the Pack stay tight with the Heels on the boards, 22-21.

Simply not good enough: NC State turned it over just four times, but was 3-of-13 (23 percent) from long range and just 13-of-23 (57 percent) from the free throw line. That's simply not going to get it done against a team as talented as the Heels.

What’s next: NC State’s NCAA tournament hopes are dangling by a thread, especially since some of its fellow bubble brethren (Seton Hall, Kansas State, etc.) took care of business on Tuesday night. That means every game is huge and the next one is awfully dangerous. Clemson has won three of its past four. The Tar Heels, trying to win the league crown, travel to Virginia, host Maryland and then finish the season off with the remach against Duke.

This is not a particularly new piece of information. North Carolina coach Roy Williams has made clear his feelings on the Wolfpack before. In 2008, Williams said he would rather beat NC State than eat. Seeing as eating is a rather important part of one's daily survival regimen, this might have been hyperbole. But not by much.

Williams confirmed as much in advance of tonight's NC State matchup. At his pregame media availability this week, Williams was asked what the Tar Heels' rivalry with State "means" to him. Turns out it means a whole lot -- and it always has. (Quotes helpfully provided by our UNC blogger Robbi Pickeral, who has all your pregame coverage here.)

"It’s always meant a great deal to me," Williams said. "I’ve gone on record as saying that I struggled with them. I was a freshman in college and some old high school buddies that I had played baseball and basketball with were over at State, and they gave me enough crap for the rest of my life. I didn’t appreciate it and I didn’t like it. So I’ve always had the feeling that this is an important game. It’s North Carolina against North Carolina State.

"You know, every kid grows up and sometimes mom and dad plants seeds about who they’re going to cheer for, and they have an influence," he said. "I didn’t have that influence. I had my high school coach [Buddy Baldwin] who thought North Carolina was great, and then some other people put us down any way they could to me, and I took offense to that. It’s a childish way to react, but it’s stuck with me."

Yeah, OK, it's a slightly childish way to react. But guess what? I love it. Williams doesn't dislike NC State because he's supposed to dislike State. He doesn't dislike them because they're a competitor, or because this game is particularly important to his well-monied boosters, from whom he'd catch guff (a phrase I like to think Roy would use) if he didn't keep the Wolfpack at bay. No, this is an actual, legitimate rivalry for Williams, one that stretches back to the place most people first discover and then codify their seething sports hatreds: youth. In a world of mercenary coaches who coolly adopt the language of their constituents, it's borderline refreshing to see a coach like Williams -- a man at the relative pinnacle of his profession -- willing to get down in the mud and the muck with the rest of us.

There's no disconnect between UNC fans and their coach here. UNC hates NC State. NC State hates UNC. Same as it ever was. May it always be so.

What’s more debatable: How to rank the first two ACC teams, Nos. 3-4, or the jumble of the following seven? Only one thing’s certain: Boston College is at the bottom of the bunch.

1. North Carolina
2. Duke

I wrote earlier this week that polls -- and in this case, power rankings -- should be about what teams have done, and not necessarily what they have the potential to do. So at first, I had Duke in the top spot. And a strong case could be made for the Blue Devils, considering their league-high RPI and lone loss.

But that loss was in ugly fashion at Ohio State. Plus, the Devils only beat Belmont at home by a point in their season opener. And Wednesday, they still looked like they were trying to bounce back from the thumping they took from the Buckeyes.

UNC, meanwhile, crisscrossed the nation twice before playing like one of the top three teams in the country during a one-point loss at Kentucky. The Tar Heels’ 10-point defeat to then-unranked UNLV in Las Vegas makes for a rub -- but that’s the only rub. Carolina is playing better right now.

3. Virginia: What a difference a fifth year makes. Forward Mike Scott, back for an extra extra season of eligibility, has led the Cavs to their first 8-1 start since 2004, averaging 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds. They get the nod over FSU because of their double-digit win over Michigan.

4. Florida State: What does it say about the ACC that its fourth-best team managed only 41 points, and missed its first 15 shots, in a loss to Harvard? Yikes. But FSU still ranks among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense and blocked shots.

5. NC State: Three days after the Pack let a seven-point lead against Indiana evaporate, they allowed Stanford to come back from a dozen-point deficit. With C.J. Leslie consistently scoring in double figures, new coach Mark Gottfried boasts a team with a bunch of potential. But it must learn to finish.

6. Virginia Tech: Seth Greenberg had to have a toughness talk with his team after it lost its second straight, to Kansas State, earlier this week. It seemed to kick in during the Hokies’ victory at Rhode Island, where Erick Green scored 24 points.

7. Maryland: Point guard Terrell Stoglin continues to lead the Terps -- and the ACC -- in scoring (22.5 ppg), but he could use the addition of center Alex Len, who becomes eligible later this month, and the (hopefully) post-holiday return of guard Pe'Shon Howard from a broken left foot.

8. Miami: It’s hard to come up big when your big men are in street clothes. With senior forward Julian Gamble out after tearing his ACL over the summer, and junior center Reggie Johnson not expected back until next month because of knee surgery, the Hurricanes have had to make do with a lineup that includes three transfers. It didn’t work against Memphis, its best test yet this season.

9. Wake Forest: Deacs coach Jeff Bzdelik thought his team took a step in the right direction when C.J. Harris buried a game-winner to upset Nebraska on the road Nov. 20. Then, three days later, Wake fell behind by as many as 23 points and lost to Richmond at home. It’s going to be that sort of year in Winston-Salem.

10. Clemson: The Tigers have lost by three points or less to Charleston, Coastal Carolina and South Carolina. Sure, they’ve had to replace last year’s veteran leaders, Demontez Stitt and Jerai Grant. But with two seniors and two juniors in the starting lineup, it has been a disappointing beginning -- even for a team that was only projected to finish seventh in the preseason.

11. Georgia Tech: With no seniors on the roster except for a couple of former walk-ons, the Yellow Jackets have had to count on Glen Rice Jr., who was suspended the first three games of the season for violating team rules. He leads the team in scoring with 14.3 ppg.

12. Boston College: Only one player, junior Oregon transfer Matt Humphrey, has started each of the Eagles’ first eight games. Before Thursday, the difference between two wins and being winless? Seven points.