Two college basketball seasons commence from halfway around the world.
Both the men's and women's 2026-27 campaigns start in unison with the Eternal City Tip-Off in Italy. This first-time event, inspired by the election of the first American pope, taps the Villanova Wildcats and Notre Dame Fighting Irish for an ambitious doubleheader at Rome's Palazzo dello Sport. Here's what viewers need to know ahead of Sunday's special.
All times below are ET.
Venue: Palazzo dello Sport — Rome
Date: Sunday, Nov. 1
Men's game: 9:30 a.m. on Fox
Women's game: Noon on FS1
Streaming: Fubo (Stream Free Now)
Fox is free over the air. Fox and FS1 also stream with a Fox One subscription.
This double tipoff was conceived by Fox Sports and then pitched to Kevin Willard, the Villanova men's coach, through his former agent and current Fox Sports executive vice president Jordan Bazant. The idea came once Robert Francis Prevost, a graduate of Villanova and a Chicago native, became Pope Leo XIV.
A private mass at St. Peter's Basilica was held Saturday, followed by a papal audience. The pope declined to take sides between the two programs, though he said, "Prevost has another opinion." He also posed for pictures with players from Villanova , who gifted him a golden basketball, and those from Notre Dame , who presented him with a jersey.
Players from both schools toured the Colosseum earlier as well.
The Palazzo dello Sport was designed to host basketball and boxing for the 1960 Summer Olympics. A crowd of around 8,500 is expected Sunday.
Notre Dame comes off a disappointing 13-18 mark under Micah Shrewsberry. The team now tries to make its first NCAA tourney run since 2022.
Senior guard Braeden Shrewsberry, Micah's son, has posted 11.9 points per game across three seasons in South Bend. The Fighting Irish's transfer portal additions include fellow seniors Braeden Smith from Gonzaga and Ethan Roberts from Penn. And the program expects a second-year leap out of Brady Koehler, a consensus top-100 recruit from a year ago.
In their first season under Willard in 2025-26, the Wildcats finished 24-9. They made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years, but lost their first-round matchup against Utah State.
This group is led by senior Tyler Perkins, the incumbent Big East Most Improved Player who paced last season's team with 13.7 points per game. Villanova also brought in seniors Kwame Evans Jr. from Oregon and Devin Royal from Ohio State. Both transfers averaged more than 13 points last season. The frontcourt gets an extra boost from freshman Luigi Suigo, a 7-foot-3 Italian national with real NBA Draft upside.
Kevin Kugler is on the play-by-play call, with perennial analyst Bill Raftery by his side for commentary. Kim Adams handles the sideline reporting for this game.
The clear-cut headliner of the women's matchup is Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo. She enters her senior year on the heels of winning the Nancy Lieberman Award and Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Hidalgo finished with 25.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game last season. She also averaged an absurd 5.6 steals, highlighted by a single-game NCAA record of 16 swipes versus Akron. Expectations are now through the roof for Hidalgo as she captains the No. 13 Irish. And Notre Dame seeks to improve upon a 25-11 mark that ended in the Elite Eight .
Niele Ivey's refurbished roster includes McDonald's All-American Jenica Lewis, plus Princeton transfer Madison St. Rose and Anaya Hardy from Louisville. Her staff also adds special adviser Skylar Diggins, the program luminary and seven-time WNBA All-Star.
Villanova was a tournament team in its own right last season. Denise Dillon's Wildcats went 25-8 but lost in the opening round to Texas Tech.
Junior Jasmine Bascoe and sophomore Kennedy Henry are both on the preseason All-Big East team. Bascoe led the conference in points and assists in 2025-26, while Henry set a program record for steals in a freshman season. The backcourt duo looks to pull off a notable upset and make a statement against Hidalgo and company.
Kugler is calling the women's game as well, though Adams takes over analyst duties from Raftery.
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