Vatican and basketball: NCAA season opener dedicated to the Pope in Rome
This year's NCAA college basketball season will open with a special game in Rome between Notre Dame and Villanova, honoring the first US-born Pope, Leo XIV. The rest of the teams begin play on November 2.
The 2026/2027 NCAA college basketball season will kick off with a symbolic event in Rome. The opening games between Notre Dame and Villanova have been named the "Eternal City Tip-Off," dedicated to Pope Leo XIV — the first head of the Roman Catholic Church born in the United States and a Villanova alumnus.
Game details
Student-athletes from several leading American Catholic universities will travel to Rome and the Vatican for the occasion. The men's game is scheduled to start at 16:30 Latvian time, while the women's matchup will begin at 19:00. Notably, the games will take place after clocks shift to winter time — this happens in Europe on October 25, and in the US a week later, on November 1.
The rest of the NCAA teams will begin their season on Monday, November 2. Some opening games will also take place outside the US — the Oklahoma and North Carolina women's teams will start their season in Paris.
Latvian representation
November and December will feature the usual games against teams from other conferences. Latvian players Evelīna Otto and Anna Liepiņa will take part with their teams in the "Baha Mar Hoops" tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, during Thanksgiving week, November 23-29. Liepiņa's team, Miami, is set to face Michigan on November 23, while Otto's opponent with Utah has not yet been announced.
Scale of the championship
The women's national championship will take place from March 17 to April 4, 2027, featuring 76 teams for the first time. In total, 350 teams compete in NCAA Division I across 32 conferences. In recent years, NCAA season-opening games in Europe have become a regular occurrence across several sports.
