March Madness is all about turning the impossible into the improbable.

Colorado State men’s basketball will have the opportunity to do just that, as they slot in as the last team into the field of 68.

First up: Virginia, a team CSU has never played before. Both teams were selected as a first-four team in and will play each other first in Dayton, Ohio, for a chance to move on and play Texas, a No. 7 seed.

As the tension in the Rams’ watch party continued to grow and nerves became ever so apparent on the faces of the athletes who had put their blood, sweat and tears into the season, CSU being announced as a play-in team brought relief yet left confusion.

“One of the hardest things to do in our sport is get an opportunity to earn an at-large (bid) into the NCAA tournament,” coach Niko Medved said. “Getting to do that is just incredible for these young people.”

Prior to the selection show, seemingly every expert bracketologist had the Rams locked into the first round, straddling a nine seed. Yet the NCAA selection committee clearly felt differently.

Not just for CSU, but Mountain West foe Boise State also was picked as a last-four team despite the consensus before the selection show being that both teams would be in.

“To be honest, I was really surprised how most of the Mountain West was seeded,” Medved said. “I’m not the expert, but I think if you talk to the hundreds of people who do the bracketology, I think they really had all the Mountain West teams seeded higher than that.”

Although the MW didn’t get the rankings so many people thought it would, there isn’t any changing the field. So that leaves one job for the Rams: Roll the Cavaliers.

Virginia finished their season 23-10 and went 13-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season. Similarly to CSU, Virginia lost in the semifinals of their tournament but did so against NC State.

“I think there’s a lot, just a lot of emotions going through you right now,” Medved said. “But I think it’s time to regroup, and then we’ve got to focus on Virginia.”

So how do the Rams match up against the Cavaliers?

Well, both teams’ successes start with their star guards. Obviously, for the Rams, that’s Isaiah Stevens, and for the Cavs, that’s Reece Beekman. They play in a similar way: Stevens averages 16.5 points and 7.0 assists per game, and Beekman averages 14.3 points and 6.3 assists per game.

Both players like to set up their teammates, and both are lethal in the mid-range. However, Stevens has Beekman beat is on the outside, where Stevens is a much better shooter. Stevens shoots 45% on four attempts per game compared to Beekman’s 32% on three shots per game.

While the guard play will be front and center come Tuesday, oftentimes, a game boils down to what do the other eight players on the court do.

Something the Rams struggled with mightily against New Mexico in the Mountain West tournament was their shots at the rim. The Lobos accumulated nine blocks while holding the Rams to 34% from the field, largely thanks to JT Toppin.

While they won’t be facing Toppin, Ryan Dunn for UVA is just as formidable of a presence at the rim. Dunn averages just over two blocks per game, and the Rams will have to figure out how to finish those at-the-rim shots they love.

That’s at least the way NC State and so many other teams this year beat UVA. In most of the Cavs’ losses this season, it was a big man who was the leading scorer. Despite Dunn’s rim presence, the paint is the best way to attack UVA.

While the Rams don’t have a 6-foot-9-inch, 275-pound behemoth like DJ Burns, Jr. down low, Joel Scott and Patrick Cartier have been crucial to the Rams’ run and should have good games.

While both teams have their separate strengths and weaknesses, they do a lot of similar things. For example, they take care of the ball; UVA is third in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio, and CSU is just one slot behind them. Both have struggled at times on the boards, and both teams like to get to the basket.

Where they’re different is on the defensive side of the floor, where Virginia has the advantage, but the Rams’ offense has been much better than the Cavs’ this season. Offense vs. defense is an age-old question that will be answered Tuesday night.

While the Rams are more veteran-led on the court, UVA has the advantage in coaching experience. While Medved has proven himself a worthy man at the helm, he can’t say that he’s won a national championship, something that Tony Bennett did in 2019. However, Medved also can’t say he was the first team to lose to a 16 seed, something that stains Bennett’s resume.

While there are so many similarities between the two teams, their identities remain different. Whoever makes the other team play their preferred style of ball will likely come out of this one victorious. But this is the reason Stevens returned to CSU, so let the fight commence.

“I feel like we put together a schedule and a roster to go out there and compete each and every night,” Stevens said. “(We) put ourselves in a great position to play in March, and hopefully, we’ll be able to keep this thing going.”

Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.

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