It can happen.
But really a team playing an 8 man rotation with a bunch of guys around 30 minutes per game is incredibly normal. Stirtz averaged over 39 mpg and Mascari just under 39 mpg for Drake. Purdue blew a bunch of teams out all year and their Big 10 player of the year played 37 mpg.
You could play Nojus, Kelderman, Watson, you name the additional bench guy as much as possible, and this team isn't going any further. Gilbert got hurt in the first conference game at CU while the game was close. Tamin, not sure exactly when it happened. Maybe it was garbage time, maybe it wasn't. I don't remember.
The chances you avoid an important injury by trimming off a few minutes per game is not really that high. The odds that you develop someone outside of the rotation into a rotation-worthy player that can offset an injury enough to advance further in the tourney are also very small.
The idea that TJ grinds down his guys like Thibs doesn't seem to hold much water. Gilbert averaged 31.6 mpg and Tamin 30.9. The top 100 minutes guys in D1 are all above 34.5 mpg.
Injuries can happen. And I'd prefer in blowouts to sub earlier or steal minutes during the buy games. But I just don't think any of these things would've changed the outcome of this season in any material way.