Does Mizzou basketball have a legitimate excuse for their roller coaster season?

The 15-7 Missouri Tigers have had an up-and-down season so far, and are firmly on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament bid. And while issues like free throw shooting have certainly contributed to their roller coaster year, there may be one factor that has been completely out of Mizzou's hands.

According to Evan Miyakawa, the Tigers have had the fourth-worst injury luck this season. Only Washington, Oregon and USC have lost more production due to injury than the Tigers.

Are injuries really to blame for the Tigers season so far?

The Tigers have now had four significant injuries this season with the latest one being Annor Boateng's season-ending leg injury. They also had Trent Pierce miss 13 games, and Jayden Stone miss seven. Mizzou has also been without Jevon Porter for over a month, and have no timeline for his return yet.

When healthy, Pierce has averaged nine points and 3.4 rebounds per game, Stone has averaged 14.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and Porter has averaged 6.4 points and four rebounds per game. It's easy to see why Mizzou has found themselves on the wrong side of the injury luck, but does their misfortune give them a valid excuse for an uneven season?

In Pierce's case, a majority of his missed games were a part of the easy non-conference schedule. Could he have helped in the blowout loss to Illinois? Certainly, but the Tigers went 10-3 in his absence. Stone was in a similar boat, as he and Pierce both returned in the upset win over Florida. Porter on the other hand, has missed the entirety of the SEC slate so far, and could easily be pointed to as a reason the Tigers are just 5-4 in conference play.

So while injuries to several key players have affected the Tigers somewhat, most of their time missed was during a weak part of the schedule.