Temple will play in two neutral-site games at the Palestra this season.
The Owls will face Richmond on Nov. 8 and St. Bonaventure on Dec. 12 at the Palestra to celebrate the storied arena’s 100th anniversary. Temple called the Cathedral of College Basketball home from 1955 to 1984.
“The Palestra holds a special place in the history of college basketball and Philadelphia, and we are honored to be part of its 100th anniversary celebration,” Temple coach Adam Fisher said in a release. “Richmond and St. Bonaventure present two challenging matchups against well-coached programs, and we look forward to competing at one of college basketball’s most historic venues.”
The Temple men’s basketball program last played at the Palestra during the 2022-23 season.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Temple’s matchup with Richmond will mark the 22nd between the two schools. The Owls hold an 11-10 all-time advantage. The programs last played during the 2022-23 season at another neutral site — the Brooklyn Nets’ Barclays Center, which ended in a 69-41 win for Richmond.
The Bonnies have faced Temple at the Palestra three times, losing each matchup. Temple has a 53-7 record all-time against its former Atlantic 10 rival. Their game on Dec. 12 will be their first since the Owls left the A-10 after the 2012-13 season.
“We are excited for the opportunity to play at the Palestra during its 100th anniversary season,” St. Bonaventure coach Mike MacDonald said. “The Palestra is one of the most iconic venues in college basketball, and the opportunity to take on the Temple Owls, a longtime Bonnie rival, makes this game even more special.”
“We think the offseason training went well when we came back in January, February,” Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante said. “Then that follows up with spring practice and spring practice went pretty well from our perspective. So our guys were here, the whole team [was] here for the month of July. The bulk of our upperclassmen are here for June and July, so they get the opportunity to train together. And then the freshmen come in July and it gives the upperclassmen and freshmen almost a month to learn to get to know each other a little bit.”
However, Villanova is facing questions at quarterback as the eligibility of Pat McQuaide, its hopeful starter, is tied up in an Ohio court after the Patriot League informed the program he was ineligible.
Here are five things to know as Villanova prepares to kick off its 2026 campaign:
A new conference
Villanova officially joined the Patriot League on July 1 after spending 19 seasons in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA).
Outside of Villanova and William & Mary, the conference includes Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Lehigh, as well as fellow associate football members Fordham, Georgetown, and Richmond.
Richmond joined last season after departing the CAA. Four programs have now left the CAA within the last two seasons, the fourth being Delaware, which transitioned to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
The largest impact this has on Villanova is travel. A trip for the Wildcats will cover an average of 175 miles, which lowers costs for the program, especially on air travel.
Before its debut in the Patriot League, Villanova was voted to finish first by the league’s preseason coaches poll, receiving seven first-place votes. Lehigh, which fell to the Wildcats in last year’s FCS playoffs, got three.
Pat McQuaide’s eligibility to play for Villanova this season rests in the Ohio courts. Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer
Who starts at quarterback?
McQuaide, last year’s starting QB, led the team to a 12-3 record. The Ohio native passed for 3,123 yards and 25 touchdowns. It marked what was expected to be his final year of eligibility.
However, this summer, Villanova submitted a request to the NCAA asking to grant McQuaide an extra year of eligibility. The NCAA denied the request, forcing Villanova and McQuaide to take it to court.
On Aug. 1, an Ohio judge ruled that the NCAA cannot enforce its eligibility rules against McQuaide, granting him an extra year of eligibility.
However, the Patriot League notified Villanova on Aug. 4 that it was deeming McQuaide ineligible by its own bylaws. An appeal by Villanova to the Patriot League’s Council of Presidents Executive Committee was also denied on Aug. 21.
McQuaide’s attorney, Richard Hamilton Jr., is still fighting the ruling in the Ohio court system, and an update could come as early as Thursday.
If McQuaide is not able to play for Villanova, two Wildcats will battle for the starting gig — senior Robert Russo and freshman Nolan DiLucia. The two have been getting the bulk of the starter reps through spring and summer practices, according to Ferrante.
Villanova’s quarterback situation remains unsettled as the 2026 season kicks off.Steven M. Falk / For The Inquirer
“Taking a majority of the reps were, obviously, we had Dylan Mills, we had Robbie Russo, going into his senior year, Dylan going into his junior year, and then Nolan DiLucia, the incoming freshman,” Ferrante said. “Those are the guys that were kind of rotating through, seeing who wants to take it over, who wants to take the lead there. … It’s an ongoing process. We’re going to continue to evaluate everybody.”
Outside of McQuaide, Villanova’s quarterbacks have only attempted just one pass.
Key games
In the Patriot League, Villanova will play all its conference opponents during the regular season, as opposed to the larger CAA where tiebreakers often helped determine automatic playoff qualifiers.
The biggest game on Villanova’s regular-season calendar is most likely its home game against Lehigh on Oct. 24 (3 p.m., ESPN+). The two programs have a long-running rivalry. Villanova leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1903, 14-5.
Until last year’s playoff game, Lehigh was 12-0 and was the Patriot League champion.
Former CAA opponent Richmond, which will visit Villanova on Nov. 7 (1 p.m., ESPN+), tied for third with William & Mary in the coaches preseason poll.
Mace returns
Villanova’s biggest win this offseason was retaining breakout running back and returner Ja’briel Mace. He entered the transfer portal but decided to return to Villanova. Mace was named the 2025 CAA Special Teams Player of the Year.
Mace broke Brian Westbrook’s single-game rushing record with 28 carries for 291 yards and four touchdowns against Towson on Nov. 8. He tallied three 100-yard-plus rushing games, and totaled 946 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 128 attempts for the season.
Mace was named to the Walter Payton Award 2026 preseason watchlist, the Patriot League’s preseason all-conference first-team and the 2027 East-West Shrine Bowl 1000, which highlights the top 1,000 NFL draft prospects ahead of the 2026 college football season.
Villanova’s head coach Mark Ferrante during practice, Tuesday in Radnor, August 25, 2026Steven M. Falk / For The Inquirer
New faces and key returners
The Wildcats were not very active in the transfer portal, with a majority of the new names on their roster coming from the high school recruiting class. Most of the new faces starting on both sides of the ball come from within the program.
Junior offensive lineman Chris McCullers, who started 14 games for Villanova last season, will fill one of the holes that opened with the departures of Stephane Voltaire, Temi Ajirotutu, and Jake Picard. Senior defensive lineman Capri Martin also withdrew his name from the transfer portal to stay at Villanova.
“Yeah, we’re excited to have Ja’briel [Mace] and Capri [Martin] back,” Ferrante said. “A couple guys did go into the portal briefly, but then they decided to stay after talking with their families and their coaches, and, obviously, our staff here. We’re excited to have those guys back. We have a good nucleus back on both sides of the ball.”
Fifth-year offensive lineman Quin Whalen, who will be a key part of the offense, started the last nine games last season at center.
Returning wide receivers will include sophomore Braden Reed, who had a breakout freshman year on special teams and at wide receiver during the postseason. Sophomore Brandon Binkowski could see more snaps. Junior Chris Colby will also have an elevated role.
Two starting Wildcat defensive backs, Zahmir Dawud (Rutgers) and Anthony Hawkins (Iowa), departed Villanova for FBS programs. Junior defensive backs Josh Oluremi and Newton Essiem are returning. Fifth-year Garret Rogan is set to return and will see playing time at safety. Junior Jayvont Williams is in contention for the starting safety spot.
“And the secondary, unfortunately, that’s kind of where we got to hit the hardest with the transfer portal,” Ferrante said. “So you’re going to see some new faces back there again. Last year, we had five new defensive backs from the year before, and everyone did not know how we would do defensively with five new faces, and we ended up doing pretty well.”
After months of speculation, Temple coach K.C. Keeler said on Thursday that transfer quarterbacks Ajani Sheppard and Jaxon Smolik could both play against Rhode Island in their season opener on Sept. 5.
“I could see us playing two. … I still don’t think anyone has really separated themselves,” said Keeler. “The nice thing is they both have a little bit different skill set, and [offensive coordinator] Tyler [Walker] did a phenomenal job running two quarterbacks at Montana State. I think we’re trying to let it all unfold and take as much time as possible, but I’m not going to force it.”
The competition between Smolik and Sheppard started when the two pledged their commitments to the Owls this past offseason. Smolik transferred from Penn State, and Sheppard came over from Washington State, where he had transferred to the previous offseason, but never saw the field there due to injury.
They have played in a combined nine college games and attempted a combined two passes in their careers.
Keeler still seems intent on naming a starter at some point in the season.Last season he didn’t name Evan Simon the starter until after the Owls’ Week 2 win over Howard.
“I’m not saying we’re going to play two all year,” said Keeler. “I don’t want to have a mindset where it’s only going to be one quarterback and backup. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting close to figuring it out. And we will probably have an idea of what that first play looks like [against Rhode Island].”
Peter Clarke, Dante Atton, Colin Chase, Eric Stuart, Grayson Mains, Saboor Karriem, and Sam Brown were nominated by their teammates and members of the program to wear single digits during the 2026 season. It’s the program’s highest honor.
“It’s so exciting, and it was so cool calling their names out and seeing how their teammates reacted,” said Keeler. “It’s so great having guys like that [the single digits] that take on all that responsibility, so it’s a really good group. We’re really pleased with the leadership they’ve given us, and I think they feel very honored because of how stringent the process was.”
Mains, Clarke, Brown, Karriem, and Stuart were first-time selectees, while Atton and Chase held their designations from last season.
Coming from the roof of Temple linebacker Jordan Montgomery’s North Philadelphia home, sounds of music and general jeering fill the streets. The Owls linebacker room has gotten together for another function.
It’s become somewhat of a tradition. Every few weeks, the Owls linebackers, headed by captain Eric Stuart, come together to eat, laugh and strengthen the bonds that have extended beyond the football field. And it’s a tradition that reflects the broader culture shift in the program, brought on by coach K.C. Keeler, and one the Owls hope sparks a resurgence on the field.
“I think the first time we did it was last year for the Super Bowl, at my old crib,” said Stuart, a fifth-year senior. “We just cooked some food and had everybody come over and come eat and just hang out together. That’s how it all started.”
Said senior Curly Ordonez: “For us, it is just like showing up for your brother, right? You don’t have to come for the whole time. I was one of those, especially last year. I was laid back, pretty quiet, and kept to myself. And it was about bringing people out of their shells. We have a lot of guys that are far away from home, and we can get them some home-cooked meals, which is something we like to do.”
Continuity is key for the Owls linebackers with 10 returners from last season. Stuart, one of Temple’s most experienced defensive players, anchors a group that also returns 2025’s leading tackler, Ordonez, Tyree Alualu, Jayvant Brown, Wesley Brown, Montgomery, and others. They are joined by newcomers such as Jaylon Joseph and JaMair Diaz.
“I think it’s just really important for us to be able to coach each other up,” Stuart said. “On the football field, stuff happens; emotions are high. … Every message might not come off in a regular tone, especially to the newer guys. But I feel like especially the guys in our room, we all understand that nobody is coming at you as a person.
“We’re trying to be better out here, so knowing each other just helps with communication. You don’t get that bickering and fighting, and that is probably the biggest thing we’ve gotten from being so close.”
Junior Tyree Alualu is one of Temple’s returning linebackers.Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer
And the cohesion among the Owls linebackers has been noticed from across the field.
“I’ve never seen a room so close like the linebackers,” said quarterback Ajani Sheppard. “They are always hanging out with each other, always talking to each other. I think it’s such a great thing.”
The relationships among the linebackers started just over a year ago with the hiring of Keeler and a new staff. Keeler inherited a program coming off four consecutive 3-9 seasons under Stan Drayton and Rod Carey but quickly made a culture shift a priority. Keeler said he met with every player on the roster individually following his hiring. Many players were encouraged to stay, and the coaching staff emphasized that continuity.
“I would say, just having new coaches,” Ordonez said of the difference. “We had a lot of guys who were new to the team, and last year was one of those years that took us where it went, and I feel like this year, we understood the type of team we had and the guys we have coming and who we are. We obviously got better, and we’ve seen that throughout the spring. So understanding that by getting together we could really be something as a defense. But to be one of the best groups you got to get to know each other, got to hang out, you’ve got to do stuff outside of the city, gain that trust and gain that love.”
Stuart said, unlike previous years, he wants to be in the facility every day.
“I would say it’s more of a whole team energy that kick-started it for [the linebackers],” said Stuart. “Me personally, in 2024, [I] just honestly hated being in the facility every day. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to hang out after or spend time with anybody. Then Coach Keeler and the new staff got here, and the energy changed. Like, I feel like everyone wants to be here, everyone comes in, and nobody is getting their stuff just to run out of the locker room and go home. We sit, and we hang out in the locker room. There’s no one in a rush to get out of here. I would say I thought that’s probably the biggest change.”
The real test of their chemistry awaits on Sept. 5 with their season opener against Rhode Island.
Nearly all of the opponents for Villanova’s 12 nonconference men’s basketball games were already known prior to the school officially releasing its out-of-conference schedule Wednesday morning, but a few new foes were revealed, as were all of the dates.
The 2026-27 season starts with a trip to Rome, where the men’s and women’s teams will face Notre Dame. Other marquee contests include games vs. defending national champion Michigan and Wisconsin at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, and road games at Kansas and Pittsburgh.
The Wildcats, who went 24-9 last season and have a roster that could get some preseason top 25 votes, play their two Big 5 pool games Nov. 10 at home vs. La Salle and Dec. 1 at Temple before the Dec. 5 Big 5 Classic at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Villanova’s game vs. Notre Dame in Rome on Nov. 1 kicks off the college basketball season and will be nationally televised on FOX.
“I went back and looked at the last 10 national champions and looked at how they schedule and where their rank of schedule was,” Willard said. “I think it’s really important to test yourself on the road, most importantly. … Especially with the tournament going to 76 teams, I think teams should get rewarded by scheduling hard.”
The entire 2026-27 schedule will be revealed in September when the Big East announces its schedule.
The NCAA Division I Council last year approved an increase from 31 regular-season games to 32 games. Villanova plays 20 Big East games and has typically had 11 nonconference games. The increase to 32 means one extra non-Big East game on the calendar.
Villanova’s full nonconference schedule is below (times will be announced at a later date, the school said):
Nov. 1 vs. Notre Dame (Rome)
Nov. 6 vs. Holy Cross
Nov. 10 vs. La Salle
Nov. 14 vs. Rider
Nov. 17 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 vs. Michigan (Xfinity Mobile Arena)
Nov. 24 vs. Coppin State
Nov. 27 at Kansas
Dec. 1 at Temple
Dec. 5 Big 5 Classic
Dec. 9 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
Dec. 12 vs. Wisconsin (Xfinity Mobile Arena)
The Wildcats also will play three exhibition games: Oct. 11 at Rutgers; Oct. 17 vs. George Mason; and Oct. 22 vs. Virginia.
Connecticut women’s basketball in the 21st century has been synonymous with dominance, and the central figure to it all has been Norristown native Geno Auriemma.
The 72-year-old coach, who took his current job ahead of the 1985 season, has spent more than four decades on the sideline and built the Huskies into one of the most dominant and storied programs in college basketball history.
On Aug. 21, a three-episode documentary called The Dynasty: UConn Huskies aired on Apple TV, giving insight into Auriemma’s brash coaching style that has often received criticism but was a driving force to his 12 national titles.
And while it featured many players past and present, from Swin Cash and Sue Bird to Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, and even Paige Bueckers, Auriemma’s Philly roots were another theme of the coach’s historic run in women’s college basketball.
Here were some ways Philly was involved in Auriemma’s journey:
Auriemma’s motivation to coach girls’ basketball
The documentary tells the story of Auriemma and UConn chronologically, but stopped in both the first and second episodes to detail some of his backstory. Auriemma described how he first got involved with women’s basketball.
“When I was in school and playing basketball, coaching women would have been last on my list,” Auriemma says. “But my buddy, he comes up to me one day and he says, ‘Hey, I started coaching girls’ high school basketball. I need an assistant coach.’ I said, ‘Who the hell would coach girls?’”
Geno Auriemma is carried off the floor by his players after UConn won the 2010 NCAA championship, defeating Stanford.ERIC GAY, Filoe / Associated Press
Auriemma later obliged, and while he didn’t say it on camera, that start came at Bishop McDevitt High School as the girls’ basketball junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach. When he went to practice, he noted his own reluctance to provide hard coaching.
“It kind of dawned on me. They’re not going to crack. They’re not fragile,” said Auriemma. “That you can demand a lot from them. … But everything [in my career] just took off from there.”
He later took assistant coaching jobs at St. Joseph’s and Virginia, with Norristown’s Kennedy Kenrick Catholic High School (which closed in 1993) sandwiched in between. Auriemma took the UConn job in 1985 and has been there since.
Auriemma discussed his family moving from Montella, a small village in southern Italy, to Norristown when he was 7 years old. He recalled that his “mother can’t read or write, my father barely went to school,” and cited the challenges of not being able to “speak any English.”
The differences in the clothes he wore and food he ate, compared to other kids, Auriemma said, made him “desperately wanting to be like an American kid.” It ultimately informed his approach as a coach.
“As I got older, I always felt like, ‘I’m not that guy.’ … You get reminded, but there was this part of me where if I can be really, really, really good and be better than you, then I can, I can prove that I belong in your group,” said Auriemma. “It’s just a little kid’s mentality, and unfortunately, it stayed with me 40 years into coaching that I have to prove that I’m better than anybody else at doing what I do, but I need to be better than you.”
UConn-Tennessee rivalry
Auriemma’s breakthrough as a coach was beating Pat Summitt and her Tennessee squad in the national championship game in 1995. But afterward, Summitt won three national titles in a row and reclaimed the Lady Vols’ status as women’s basketball’s elite program.
That all changed in the 2000 NCAA Tournament championship game, though. After a disappointing Sweet 16 loss with their hyped freshman recruiting class that included Bird, Cash, Asjha Jones, and Tamika Williams, UConn came roaring back and was set to face Tennessee in Philadelphia at the First Union Center (now called Xfinity Mobile Arena).
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt (left) shakes hands with Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma before a 2006 game.Wade Payne
Auriemma also further ignited his rivalry with Summitt with some of his pregame comments about cheesesteaks.
“Geno was doing an interview about cheesesteak, obviously Geno’s, and one is Pat’s across the street in Philly, and he made a comparison. Geno’s was new and forthcoming. Pat’s was old and dilapidated,” recalled Mickie DeMoss, a longtime assistant under Summit at Tennessee. “I mean, at that point we had won six, and he’d won one. So I’m not sure where he got Pat was old and dilapidated.”
The interaction underscored the heated and competitive relationship between Summit and Auriemma, and the rivalry that had been brewing for five years. Auriemma wanted to ensure his team came out on top in his hometown that season.
“Lots of people are great. But that night in Philly, I wanted to make sure that everybody knew we’re the best in the country. I mean, everyone,” said Auriemma. “They’re all people I grew up with. They’re all kids I grew up with. So being surrounded by all that and family, yeah, the desire to win, I want that so bad. I’ll do anything to get it.”
And he did, emphatically. UConn rolled Tennessee, 71-52, for Auriemma’s second title and what set off a dominant 17-year stretch in which the Huskies won 10 national titles before Philly’s Dawn Staley and South Carolina took center stage in the current era of women’s college basketball.
Auriemma’s latest title in 2025 was featured to close the documentary, with Bueckers’ difficult journey and rocky relationship with the longtime coach culminating in a win over Staley’s South Carolina.
This season, which will be the 41st for Auriemma, UConn will face Staley’s Gamecocks on Nov. 24 at Mohegan Sun Arena, home of the Connecticut Sun, for the first time since Auriemma’s outburst in the final seconds of their Final Four matchup last season. The game is part of a doubleheader for the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase. St. John’s will face UCLA in the other game.
Maybe the best thing that can happen to college sports’ integrity is everything that is happening to its integrity right now. It would be ironic, in a way. The NCAA and its member institutions are where they are because they spent decades adhering to a policy of inertia. Only now does it look like a viable strategy, after their world is already burning around them. Sometimes, in order to gain back what was lost, one must lose what little remains.
Very little remains. Let’s be clear about that. That was true even before last weekend’s news that former Eagles undrafted rookie free agent Dae’Quan Wright was planning on returning to the college ranks after being waived by the Browns. In fact, the hand-wringing that has accompanied the tight end’s reported agreement with LSU is mostly an admission of naiveté or ignorance on the part of the hand-wringers.
The NCAA is more than a decade into a series of logical premises and conclusions that was always going to lead power conferences like the SEC and Big Ten to where they are right now. The university presidents who operate behind the NCAA’s bureaucratic anonymity chose this path when they allowed the almighty dollar of television contracts and the vanity of a news cycle monopoly to become the primary goal of collegiate sports rather than sports played by, for, and among collegiates.They are living in a reductio ad absurdum of their own creation.
The best thing any of us can do for our sanity is to lean back and enjoy watching them lose theirs. It no longer makes sense to react to each development as if university athletic departments are tethered to some sort of ethical baseline that sets them apart from any other major professional sports organization. They pulled up that anchor long ago. The ship has sailed.
Frankly, the idea of an undrafted athlete moving from the bottom of an NFL training camp roster to a college football starting lineup pales in comparison to the legion of current college football starters who are making bigger bank than they would as NFL players on rookie contracts. The average Power 4 quarterback is currently signed to a name, image, and likeness deal worth $3.1 million, according to Sportico. It always made sense that there would come a day when a player would ask out of a contract from the Browns for a more competitive offer funded by Big Willy’s Jeep-Chevy of Baton Rouge. That’s the way NIL was always going to work.
Average NIL spend has nearly tripled in the past three seasons, reflecting an accelerating market. Power 4 programs spend roughly $24.8M on football alone.
Top position groups can expect annual NIL earnings of $3.1M (QB), $1.0M (WR) and $932K (RB). QB has the best ratio of… pic.twitter.com/U4HYYXcAJT
The ridiculousness is the real sport, now. We should treat it as such. For years, the NCAA chose to address the logical implications of its profit drive with a weird and counterintuitive combination of hope, avoidance, and authoritarian dictates. They fully recognized that the genie would one day escape the bottle. Now, they’re left to hope that Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow already have plans for their bye week, when LSU plays Mississippi State.
Lane Kiffin’s central role in the latest lunacy is fitting. College football’s Kendall Roy has spent the early part of this week channeling the exact sort of ends-based nihilism so sublimely satirized by HBO’s Succession. He did the same last year when he left his Ole Miss team on the eve of the college playoffs in order to sign a mega contract with LSU. Nick Saban, his former boss at Alabama, leveraged the full power of the media-sports industrial complex to absolve him of responsibility.
“We need to take a better approach to the business aspect of what we do in college athletics,” Saban said on ESPN’s pregame studio show after Kiffin left Ole Miss. “In the NFL, you can’t leave your team until you are finished playing. You can’t talk to another coach in the regular season. There’s a defined time when you can talk to them if they are in the playoffs. We should match the academic calendar with the football calendar.”
Well, yeah. You should. But there are a whole lot of competing self-interests standing between ought and is. Like any system, it is first and foremost a reflection of those who agree to its framework. Major college football has become nothing more than Boar on the Floor in pads. Any television news segment on NCAA should conclude with a clip of Logan Roy smirking at all the piggies at the trough.
Dae’Quan Wright is among the NFL players trying to play another season of college football.Carolyn Kaster
“In general, should NFL players come back to college? I believe — it doesn’t matter necessarily what I believe — that answer would be no,” Kiffin said in a Monday news conference while defending his recruiting of at least two former Ole Miss players who’d spent the summer in NFL training camps.
Focus on Kiffin’s interjection.
It doesn’t matter necessarily what I believe.
You’ll struggle to find seven words that more accurately summarize both the current state of college sports and its contributing factors. In a more principled world, they would be written off as the words of a coward. In our current world, they might as well be written in Latin beneath the flag or family crest or company logo of a disconcerting number of tech titans, politicians, and Fortune 500 firms, not to mention the hundreds of university presidents who have long embraced the plausible deniability of the concept of shareholder value. The best thing you can say about the system of higher education in the United States is that it remains steadfastly by and of the system at large.
The only hope is that it burns itself as quickly and completely as possible. The inevitable end game for the major football-playing schools won’t look much closer to the mandates of their university charters. The big schools will break away, impose a salary cap, hiring and transfer restrictions — all of the things major sports leagues long ago did as a result of similar competitive inevitabilities. They will sign their own television contract, sell their own licensing agreements, consolidate the revenues. The nonpower schools will exist mostly as a counterweight to any antitrust claims. Meanwhile, the rest of us will continue to contemplate the question: Do we really care about college sports if they are no longer about the college?
The Southeastern Conference passed a rule Tuesday banning players who have been drafted by NFL, NBA or WNBA teams or listed on rosters in those leagues, joining the Big Ten in taking a strong stand against this month’s unexpected surge of pro players trying to return to college.
The SEC’s rule differs from the one adopted by the Big Ten, which only included football in its decision released earlier in the day.
Combined, it leaves little doubt about where the nation’s two biggest conferences stand in the wake of court orders that were allowing players who had been on pro rosters, then released, to return back to college.
It puts LSU on notice. This week, Tigers coach Lane Kiffin added Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, a pair of undrafted players out of Mississippi who had tryouts in the NFL over the summer, but were released by their teams during training camp.
The rule would also apply to basketball player R.J. Luis, who Monday won a court ruling that allowed him to sign with Will Wade’s program at LSU despite having briefly been under contract with the Jazz and Celtics of the NBA.
There was no immediate comment from LSU.
The Big Ten’s penalties for violating its rule include a half-season suspension for the head coach and a fine to the school. The SEC did not immediately divulge its penalties.
The burst of rulemaking marked the latest chapter in a remarkable month for college sports, which was suddenly faced with the once-unthinkable but now court-approved return to college of players who had signed and sometimes played for professional teams.
“I feel like I took a freaking gummy,” said Sean McVay, the coach of the Los Angeles Rams, when asked about the prospect of a player he released returning to college. “I don’t even understand it.”
Kiffin was much more in tune with the change, suggesting in a news conference Monday that if LSU didn’t take such players, other teams certainly would. Now, nobody can — at least not among the 34 teams that make up the two biggest leagues in college and play an outsize role in spearheading policy across the industry.
Another Power Four league, the Atlantic Coast Conference, was set to discuss the issue Wednesday.
They are reacting to a series of losses in state courts around the country, where judges are granting players who graduated high school in 2022 a fifth year of eligibility. In June, the NCAA passed a rule giving most players five years to finish five seasons of eligibility in college, but did not grandfather in the Class of ’22.
Hundreds of those players saw their fourth — and supposedly final — year of eligibility run out last spring. They are arguing in courts that they’re being denied educational opportunities and the chance to earn name, image and likeness money that they could get in a fifth year.
Villanova’s women’s basketball program will need to brush up on their Italian as they’ll open their 2026-27 nonconference schedule against Notre Dame in Rome on Nov. 1.
The Wildcats will open their season overseas against the Fighting Irish in the ‘Eternal City Tip-Off.’
With the college basketball season set to begin on Monday, Nov. 2, both programs received special permission to play a day prior on All Saints’ Day, which is symbolic for both Catholic schools.
Mark your calendars, 'Cats 🗓️ the non-conference schedule is HERE and so are SEASON TICKETS‼️
Villanova notably is the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV, who was appointed as the first American pope in May 2025. Notre Dame has one of the largest Catholic alumni networks in the country.
It will be the first matchup between the programs since 2018.
The Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament first the first time in three years last season, finishing with a 25-8 record (16-4 Big East). Villanova lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Texas Tech.
Villanova will see the return of its star junior point guard Jasmine Bascoe along with a slew of new Wildcats who joined via the transfer portal or freshman recruiting class.
Villanova will then return to play Princeton on the road on Nov. 10.
Villanova’s home opener will take place on Nov. 12 against Merrimack, followed by Towson inside the Finneran Pavilion on Nov. 18.
In between those two, the Wildcats head to Connecticut to take on Fairfield on Nov. 15.
In Big 5 play, Villanova is in pod play along with La Salle and Temple. The Wildcats host La Salle on Nov. 24 and travel to the Owls on Dec. 1. Villanova won the Big 5 Classic against St. Joseph’s last season, 76-70.
Villanova will look to defend its Big 5 Classic title when it opens pod play against La Salle on Nov. 24.Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer
This year, the women’s edition of the Big 5 Classic will be moving to the Palestra on Dec. 6, marking the 100th anniversary of the arena. Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion hosted the previous two women’s Big 5 Classic championship.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the Wildcats will take part in the Ft. Myers Tip-Off Classic, facing LSU (Nov. 27) and Kansas State (Nov. 28).
All games will take place at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College.
Tipoff times and television information will be announced at a later date. Villanova’s Big East schedule will be announced in September.
The dates and locations for the men’s and women’s Big 5 Classic are set.
The men’s classic will be held at Xfinity Mobile Arena for the fourth consecutive year on Dec 5. Meanwhile, the women’s classic will come to the Palestra on Dec 6.
The choice of Palestra for the women’s classic coincides with the 100-year anniversary of the storied arena. The event was held at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion for its first two years.
Along with the women’s Big 5 Classic, Penn is hosting an expanded Cathedral Classic during Thanksgiving weekend and the men’s and women’s Ivy League tournaments this season.
Both the men’s and women’s Big 5 Classic will feature the city’s six Division I programs playing in a triple-header. Seeding will be once again be determined by the teams’ performance in pod play. Each pod game will take place at the schools’ on-campus arenas in a round-robin format.
𝐀 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 🏛️
We’re excited to announce that the Big 5 Classic returns to University City this year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Palestra! 🔴🔵
For both the men and women, the teams that make up each pod are the same. Pod 1 will feature Drexel, Penn, and Saint Joseph’s while Pod 2 will consist of La Salle, Temple, and Villanova.
St. Joe’s and Villanova’s men’s teams are separated for a second year in a row. The Hawks won the first two iterations of the Big 5 Classic, while Villanova enters its season as the defending champions after it trounced Penn, 90-63.
In the women’s championship, the Wildcats also came out on top, defeating St. Joe’s 76-70.
