Villanova's men open their season in Rome on Sunday, and the last thing they did before getting on the plane was lose by 22. The Wildcats face Notre Dame at 9:30 a.m. ET on FOX at the Palazzo dello Sport, the first half of the Eternal City Tip-Off doubleheader.
The preseason started well. Villanova won 77-75 at Rutgers on Oct. 11 and beat George Mason 84-67 at home on Oct. 17. Then Virginia came in and won 93-71. Exhibitions do not count, but a loss that wide is the most recent evidence anyone has on this team. Sunday is the first chance to show it was a bad night and not a warning.
Notre Dame gives the Wildcats a real opponent rather than a soft opener. The game is listed as neutral, so neither side gets a home crowd, and both programs are dealing with the same trip, the same time change and the same unusual tip time. For fans in the United States, that means a Sunday morning game instead of a familiar evening slot. In Rome it is a 3:30 p.m. start, because U.S. clocks fall back that same morning and Italy sits six hours ahead of Eastern time. The players get a normal afternoon tip, and the viewers back home get basketball with breakfast.
