The 2026-27 college basketball season begins Sunday when Villanova faces Notre Dame at Palazzo dello Sport in Rome, Italy. The season is starting a day earlier than usual after the NCAA granted special clearance for the teams to face each other in a monumental showdown. This matchup has been months in the making, with CBS Sports' Matt Norlander the first to report on it earlier this calendar year.
The NCAA quietly approved a waiver in January to allow the teams a one-day head start, given the historic precedent of the matchup. Immediately following the men's game, Notre Dame's women's team will face Villanova. Notre Dame and Villanova are both prominent private Catholic schools with connections to Pope Leo XIV.
Robert Francis Prevost is a 1977 alumnus of Villanova, and Notre Dame is regarded as the world's most prominent Catholic institution of higher learning. Notre Dame even has an outpost in Rome. While this matchup is historic on the men's side, it isn't unprecedented on the women's side.
Duke opened last season against Baylor in Paris. This season, No. 1 South Carolina will face No. 20 Maryland on Nov. 2 at Adidas Arena in Paris. In 2023, South Carolina opened the season against Notre Dame at Halle Georges Carpentier Arena in Paris.
With the season on the horizon, here is everything you need to know ahead of Villanova's matchup with Notre Dame on Sunday. A first for everything: The matchup between Villanova and Notre Dame is believed to be the first men's season opener on foreign soil and the first regular-season Division I basketball game in Italy. This matchup has been quite literally months in the making, with plans announced for this game nearly 10 months ago.
This game will be played at Palazzetto dello Sport, which seats approximately 3,500 people for basketball and has been around since the 1950s. It remains unclear whether the Pope will attend the game: The Palazzetto dello Sport, the venue for the historic matchup, is located approximately 30 minutes from the Pope's residence in Vatican City. The Pope held a private audience on Saturday with all four teams and their traveling fans.
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