ST. LOUIS – As a No. 13 seed, Ohio was not expected to win even its first game, but now in the Sweet 16, the Bobcats still do not feel like a Cinderella as they prepare to take on No. 1 seed North Carolina. They feel like they belong.

“Nobody in our locker room feels like we're a Cinderella team,” Ohio guard D.J. Cooper said. “We feel like we can compete with anybody on the national stage.”

The Tar Heels have five players who could project to be NBA lottery picks this summer if all enter the draft, while the Bobcats have only ever produced one lottery pick and probably do not have any NBA-level talent.

It is just Ohio’s second-ever trip to the regional semifinal, but for North Carolina, anything short of the Sweet 16 is labeled a failure.

North Carolina began its season playing Michigan State with more than 8,000 military men and the President watching on an aircraft carrier. Ohio played before less than 4,000 fans against Tennessee-Martin in its opener.

Still, Ohio is not buying into claims that it is an extreme underdog against the perennial national title contenders.

“Yes, they started their season on aircraft carrier, but we were getting votes for the top 25 in December, so that's a national poll,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “This team has won 29 games, we played a lot of games on national and regional television throughout the year. Our guys don't, as I said yesterday, see themselves necessarily as a 13-seed or a Cinderella story. I mean our basketball team's been pretty consistent.”

And while the Sweet 16 might be a rare chance in the spotlight for Ohio, talk about the game throughout most of the week has been centered on the status of North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall, who sustained a broken wrist in the Tar Heel’s third round victory against Creighton.

Marshall had pins placed in the injured non-shooting wrist and had his cast removed Wednesday. But he still has not taken part in practice and his coach said he does not expect that the nation’s assist leader will play.

“I have a strong, strong inclination that he is not going to play,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.

Williams said he likely would not allow him to take the court unless he, Marshall, his parents and doctors all are convinced it is the right thing to do.

With starting shooting guard Dexter Strickland, who also served as the backup point guard early in the year, out for the season with an injury, little-used Stilman White likely will get the start at point guard. Justin Watts, who Williams said has played about seven minutes at point guard in his college career, will serve as the backup.

Marshall averaged 8.1 points and 9.8 assists per game, while playing 33 minutes per game. In conference play, he averaged more than 35 minutes per game.

By contrast, White, a 6-foot freshman, has played only 136 minutes all season long, not even getting into the game on four different occasions.

While Williams said White is “tough,” he said he certainly is not the kind of playmaker Marshall is.

“There really is a huge contrast,” he said. “I think Kendall Marshall is the best point guard I've ever had in several areas. One is after the other team scores, he can attack with the basketball and pitch ahead and we can lay it up. … Stilman is like a little colt running around out there. Kendall thinks three plays ahead. Stilman's trying to still trying to think if he's got both shoes tied.”

But even without Marshall, the Tar Heels have plenty of weapons, especially in the front court with Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Tyler Zeller. The 7-footer averages 16.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, while playing alongside the 6-11 John Henson, who averages 13.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.

Off the bench, North Carolina has 6-9 freshman James Michael McAdoo, who has averaged 5.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. All three could be lottery picks this year.

Then at the 3-spot, the Tar Heels have their leading scorer, Harrison Barnes, who is an athletic 6-foot-8. He averages 17.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and has shot 38.2 percent from 3-point range.

Ohio defensive stopper Walter Offutt, who gives up five inches to Barnes, might be in for his biggest challenge this season.

“He has great size obviously, so I have to do a good job of keep being him out of the paint area,” Offutt said. “Using my size to my advantage, get up in him a little bit, pressure him a little bit more, and keep him off the boards.”

Finally at shooting guard, North Carolina has its defensive specialist Reggie Bullock, who measures at 6-7. He averages 8.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

And despite their size, the Tar Heels like to run, ranking among the nation’s leaders in pace and scoring (82.0 points per game).

The Bobcats also are best offensively when they are in transition and are led by Cooper, who has shown a knack for having his biggest games in the biggest spots. He is averaging 14.9 points and 5.7 assists per game.

“D.J. Cooper is somebody that we have seen that can create a lot for himself and his teammates,” Zeller said.

Offutt, coming off a big offensive game in Ohio’s third-round victory against South Florida, averages 12.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. The Bobcats are unbeaten when he reaches his scoring average.

Nick Kellogg (8.8 points per game) fills the role of shooter, making 41.8 percent of his 3-point attempts, while Ohio rotates Ivo Baltic (8.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg), Jon Smith (3.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Reggie Keely (9.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg) at the forward spots.

“They're shooting better than they shot all year, 3-point wise, playing more confident,” Henson said. “I mean even in practice when our guys are running their offense, it's tough to guard. So, it's going to be a challenge and we're going to play hard and see what happens.”

But Ohio is been successful for its turnover-forcing defense that has caused opponents to give up possession at the second-highest rate in the nation.

The Bobcats also have held teams to 41.2 percent shooting, including just 29.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Offutt insists the Bobcats are not going to be intimidated, just as they were not in their first two wins in the tournament.

“We know that North Carolina obviously has great tradition, a lot of great players played there with Michael Jordan and all the greats and great coaches,” Offutt said. “But we think we're a good team and we know we're a good team, so obviously after this media and stuff gets over and the ball's tipped... I think it's going to be behind us. Then we're just going to be playing basketball and whoever executes the best on the offensive end and defensive end is going to win the game.”

Tipoff is set for 7:47 p.m. Friday at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.