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Notre Dame vs. Villanova in Rome: Opening Weekend Predictions

RallyFuel Team • October 21, 2026 • 10 min read

College basketball doesn’t start in a campus gym this year. It starts in Rome.

On Sunday, Nov. 1, Notre Dame and Villanova tip off the 2026-27 men’s season at the Palazzo dello Sport, about six miles from the Vatican. It’s the first game on the national calendar, it’s on network TV, and it’s the first pick of the year on RallyFuel. Here’s what you need to know before you lock it in.

The Eternal City Tip-Off: the essentials


Matchup	Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Villanova Wildcats
Date	Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026
Tip	9:30 a.m. ET
TV	FOX
Venue	Palazzo dello Sport (PalaEUR), Rome
Also that day	Notre Dame vs. Villanova women’s game, noon ET on FS1

Why Rome? The event was inspired by Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope and a 1977 Villanova graduate. Both schools are framing the trip around their shared Catholic roots, with a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica and a planned papal audience before the games.

Why it’s a big deal. The NCAA granted a waiver so the game could be played one day before the official start of the season. It’s also the first regular-season game outside the U.S. in Notre Dame men’s program history, and the first meeting between these two men’s programs since 2016.

The matchup: two rebuilt rosters, one early test

Both teams turned over most of their rosters this offseason. The difference is where they’re coming from.

	Notre Dame	Villanova
Coach	Micah Shrewsberry (Year 4)	Kevin Willard (Year 2)
2025-26 record	13-18 (4-14 ACC)	24-9, NCAA Tournament
Preseason standing	Not ranked	AP others receiving votes; picked 3rd in the Big East
Key returners	Braeden Shrewsberry, Logan Imes	Tyler Perkins, Matt Hodge
Notable newcomers	Braeden Smith (Gonzaga), Logan Duncomb, Yoro Diallo	Kwame Evans Jr. (Oregon), Devin Royal (Ohio State), Jake Fiegen (Cornell), Luigi Suigo

Notre Dame: older and hungry. The Irish lost their top three scorers to the portal, including Markus Burton to Indiana. Shrewsberry answered with six transfers and four freshmen, and the roster now leans on graduate students and seniors. Braeden Smith runs the point, and 6-9 forwards Duncomb and Diallo add size. After three straight losing seasons, the message is simple: win now.

Villanova: bigger and deeper. Willard set a program record for wins by a first-year coach last season. Perkins, the Big East’s Most Improved Player, is back, and the Wildcats added length up front with Evans and Royal. Italian center Luigi Suigo, a 19-year-old from Tradate in northern Italy, gets to debut in his home country. Watch Hodge’s status; he was working back from injury this summer.

Our pick: Villanova

We lean Wildcats. Villanova starts from a higher floor: a tournament team, a coach in his second year, and two starters back. Notre Dame might be better than last season’s 4-14 ACC mark, but this group has had months, not years, to learn each other.

Three things that could flip it:

Jet lag and a morning tip. Both teams fly the same distance, but a 9:30 a.m. ET start is mid-afternoon in Rome. The team that settles in first wins the opening minutes.
Notre Dame’s experience. A roster full of grad students and seniors tends to handle odd environments better than one leaning on freshmen.
The glass. Villanova added size to fix a rebounding problem. If Duncomb and Diallo hold their own inside, this stays close late.

Disagree? That’s the point. Make your own call on the Notre Dame vs. Villanova prediction page, or compare the two programs head-to-head first.

Monday, Nov. 2: opening night’s best picks

Rome is the appetizer. The full slate lands Monday, with well over 100 men’s games on the Nov. 2 predictions board. These are the ones we’d start with (rankings are the preseason AP Top 25).

Matchup	Where	Why it matters
No. 1 Florida vs. No. 14 Miami	Benchmark International Arena, Tampa (6 p.m. ET, ESPN2)	The preseason No. 1 opens against an in-state rival. Florida returns Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu; Miami is coming off a 26-9 turnaround.
No. 5 Arizona vs. No. 22 UCLA	T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas	Two ranked rivals on neutral ground. Arizona faces a UCLA team debuting Serbian five-star forward Nikola Kusturica.
No. 15 Gonzaga vs. Purdue	T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas	Purdue is 5-0 all-time against the Zags. Gonzaga gets another shot at breaking the streak.
No. 25 BYU vs. Ohio State	Delta Center, Salt Lake City	BYU starts life after AJ Dybantsa with freshman Bruce Branch III against Ohio State.
No. 18 Iowa State vs. Memphis	See game page	A ranked Big 12 team, Iowa State, against a dangerous Memphis.

The safe picks are on the board too: Duke vs. Army, UConn vs. Gardner-Webb, Illinois vs. Fairleigh Dickinson, Houston vs. La Salle and Michigan State vs. Quinnipiac. Every pick earns the same +20 points, so there’s no reason to skip them.

Every men’s game on opening night

All 160 games on the Nov. 2 board, grouped by the host (first-listed) team’s 2026-27 conference and linked to each prediction page. Late tips show a Nov. 3 date on RallyFuel because game pages run on UTC.

ACC

Big Ten

Big 12

SEC

Big East

Pac-12

Atlantic 10

American

Mountain West

West Coast

Sun Belt

Conference USA

Missouri Valley

Horizon League

Big West

Ivy League

Coastal (CAA)

Southern (SoCon)

Southland

United Athletic (UAC)

Metro (formerly MAAC)

Big Sky

Big South

America East

Ohio Valley

MEAC

How to make your picks on RallyFuel

Open the board. Go to Men’s Basketball Predictions and pick a date.
Tap a winner. Every pick earns +20 points, whether you take the favorite or the upset.
Talk it up. Drop a comment in the game chat to show your team some support.
Climb the leaderboard. Points stack up toward badges, leaderboard spots and Rewards.

Predictions are the easy way in. When you’re ready to do more, RallyFuel lets you back athletes directly through verified NIL deals: 90% of every contribution reaches the athlete, and it’s refunded automatically if the deal’s conditions aren’t met. Here’s how it works.

The season starts Sunday morning in Rome. Make your first pick now and get the app on the App Store or Google Play.

FAQ

What time is Notre Dame vs. Villanova? Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. ET.

What channel is Notre Dame vs. Villanova on? FOX. The women’s game follows at noon ET on FS1.

Where is the game being played? At the Palazzo dello Sport (PalaEUR) in Rome, Italy.

Why are Notre Dame and Villanova playing in Rome? The event celebrates both schools’ Catholic heritage and was inspired by Pope Leo XIV, a Villanova alumnus.

When do the rest of the college basketball teams start? Monday, Nov. 2, with a packed opening-night slate that includes Florida, Duke, UConn, Arizona and Gonzaga.

How many points do I get for a prediction on RallyFuel? +20 points per pick.

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