Miami got some devastating news on Sunday afternoon as news leaked out that big man Reggie Johnson will miss the next six weeks with a broken left thumb.

Johnson injured the thumb in practice the day before Miami took part in the Diamond Head Classic out in Hawaii. The Hurricanes were 1-2 out on the islands, losing to Arizona and Indiana State in overtime. This isn’t the first time that Johnson has had to miss an extended period of time, either. The big fella injured his knee in July of 2011 and missed the first half of last season.

There’s no question that this will be really bad news for Miami, as Johnson was averaging 12.6 points and 10.1 boards this season. But it will make for an incredibly interesting case for the NCAA come March. Miami was without Durand Scott for the first three games of the season, when they lost to Florida-Gulf Coast. They were without Johnson for their two most recent losses as well.

But with both Scott and Johnson in the lineup, the Hurricanes were 5-0. Let’s assume that the six weeks Johnson will be out dates to today and not the day he was injured. That means that Johnson will both of Miami’s games against North Carolina, their only matchup with North Carolina State and one of their two dates with Duke.

If Johnson is back on for the February 13th trip to Florida State, that means that unless the Seminoles make the NCAA tournament, a trip to Duke will be one of two tournament teams that Miami has played at full strength. What happens if they end up going undefeated with everyone in the lineup? How does the committee value this team?

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.