Virginia Earns At-Large Bid, Will Face Colorado State in NCAA Tournament Play-In

The Cavaliers survived Selection Sunday and are headed to Dayton to take on Colorado State on Tuesday night in the First Four

Virginia is IN. After a bloody Championship Week that featured four bid-stealers, UVA is one of the lucky ones. 

Virginia (23-10) earned an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and is headed to Dayton, where the Cavaliers will face Colorado State in a play-in game on Tuesday at 9:10pm on truTV. The winner will get the No. 10 seed in the Midwest Region and will face No. 7 seed Texas in the first round on Thursday in Charlotte. 

This was a stressful Selection Sunday for the Cavaliers, who suffered a heartbreaking loss in the ACC semifinals to NC State, who went on to win the ACC Tournament and steal the conference's automatic bid, one of four bid-stealers that significantly shrunk the Bubble this weekend. But, Virginia made it as the second to last team in the field of 68. The NCAA Selection Committee released its Last Four In as Boise State, Colorado, Virginia, and Colorado State, while the First Four Out were Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State, and Pittsburgh. 

2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket / NCAA

This will be the first-ever meeting between Virginia and Colorado State. The Rams are 24-10 this season with notable wins over Creighton, Colorado, Boston College, Nevada, Boise State, and Washington. Colorado State is ranked No. 36 in the NET, with a 6-7 Quad 1 record, 3-2 in Quad 2, 7-1 in Quad 3, and 6-0 in Quad 4. 

Virginia returns to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time under Tony Bennett. Reece Beekman will look to win his first-career NCAA Tournament game and the Cavaliers will try for the program's first Tournament win since their run to the 2019 National Championship. 

Virginia will take on Colorado State at approximately 9:10pm on Tuesday in Dayton and the game will be televised on truTV. It'll be the second game of a doubleheader on Tuesday, as Wagner and Howard will battle for the No. 16 seed in the West Region in the first game of the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday at 6:40pm. 

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