Is Kendall Marshall’s broken wrist the latest occurrence to pave the way for Kentucky to the national title?The North Carolina point guard, who had been directing a smooth attack for the Tar Heels, had surgery Monday to repair a broken scaphoid bone in his right wrist.Whether Marshall, who is left-handed, will be able to play in a Sweet 16 matchup Friday against Ohio, a No. 13 seed, is unknown.North Carolina, the Midwest Regional’s No. 1 seed, became the third top seed to suffer untimely misfortune late in the season.Syracuse, No. 1 in the East, is without center Fab Melo, who was ruled ineligible just before the tournament.And Michigan State, No. 1 in the West, lost starting forward Branden Dawson to a torn ligament in his left knee in the last game of the regular season.Syracuse takes on No. 4 seed Wisconsin and Michigan State faces No. 4 seed Louisville. Both games are Thursday.North Carolina’s Marshall averages 8.1 points and 9.8 assists a game. His 351 assists are the most in Atlantic Coast Conference history and fourth in NCAA history.His 18-point, 11-assist performance against Creighton on Sunday was his fifth double-double in his last six games.”You can’t replace what he does,” Virginia Tech coach and ESPN guest analyst Seth Greenberg says. “He’s the best I’ve seen at pitching the ball ahead and seeing things before they happen.”It’s a very, very tough road for them now.”He earlier said on ESPN that UNC “cannot win” the title if Marshall doesn’t return.Among the four top seeds, only South No. 1 Kentucky remains at full strength. The Wildcats on Friday face a rematch with No. 4 Indiana, one of two teams to beat them this season.Greenberg liked Kentucky to win it all before the other No. 1′s lost key players. He still does.Marshall’s injury had Tar Heels fans remembering when star freshman guard Kenny Smith broke a wrist in the 1983-84 regular season. That injury seemed to derail what had been a juggernaut in Michael Jordan’s junior — and last — season. With Smith playing hurt, UNC lost to Indiana in the NCAA’s Sweet 16.Likewise this year, the backcourt appears to be the place where UNC could least afford to lose a starter, certainly one of Marshall’s capabilities. Junior Leslie McDonald has missed the whole season with a knee injury suffered during the summer, and junior Dexter Strickland has been out since January, also because of a knee.The team might have to turn to little-used, 6-0 freshman Stilman White to fill at least some of Marshall’s minutes. He has played about four minutes a game on average and has 23 points and 19 assists.Forward Harrison Barnes, the team’s leading scorer, could be called on to handle the ball more, and freshman guard P.J. Hairston and/or senior Justin Watts, normally a shooting guard/small forward, could get increased time.The Tar Heels imposing front line (Barnes, Henson and Tyler Zeller) still presents matchup problems, but the point guard spot makes any offense go.Ohio’s 5-11 D.J. Cooper was one of the shining stars in the first weekendof the tournament, with 40 points and 12 assists in two games. “We’re going to prepare as if (Strickland is) playing,” said Ohio coach John Groce. “I feel bad because he’s a great player, and I recruited him at Ohio State.”A win against the Bobcats would put UNC in Sunday’s regional final, where either Kansas or North Carolina State would await. The Jayhawks feature a solid backcourt of Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson, and the Wolfpack, who nearly beat UNC in the ACC tournament 10 days ago, losing 69-67, can call on 6-5 Lorenzo Brown, who averages 6.4 assists a game.Brown had 43 points and 16 assists in three games against Carolina this season; Marshall had 41 points and 34 assists. He hit the game-winning shot in the two-point win against State in the ACC tournament, although Henson did not play in that game, having injured his wrist the previous day.”If he does not play, they cannot win the national championship,” Greenberg said on ESPN of Marshall. “No Kendall Marshall, no transition game, no early post-ups, no room-and-rhythm shots, maybe, for Harrison Barnes. All of a sudden, that offense takes a huge hit because they live and die in transition.” Marshall has also played very well lately, averaging 14.8 points and 10.3 assists in the last six games. He became only the second Tar Heel to have consecutive double-doubles in points and assists in NCAA tournament history.Other teams have faced injury issues, with mixed results, recently in the tournament. Syracuse was a No. 1 seed in the West two years ago but lost center Arinze Onuaku to a quadriceps injury in a Big East tournament game. He never returned to the lineup, and the Orange were eliminated in the Sweet 16 by Butler.That same year, West Virginia point guard Darryl Bryant broke his foot in practice only days before the Mountaineers played Washington in the East Regional semifinals. Backup Joe Mazzulla stepped into Bryant’s spot, and WVU not only beat the Huskies, they then upset top-seeded Kentucky to make the Final Four before being eliminated by Duke. Mazzulla was named most outstanding player in the regional, outplaying Kentucky’s more-renowned John Wall.Michigan State point guard Kalin Lucas suffered a torn Achilles tendon in that same tournament during a second-round game against Maryland. With backup Korie Lucious filling in the rest of the way, the Spartans also made the Final Four, although they lost to Butler in the semifinals.Contributing: Marlen Garcia in Athens, Ohio