Duke Basketball Called Out for Past Secret Scrimmage Leak

Back in late October 2021, there were reports that Mike Krzyzewski's final Duke basketball squad, featuring eventual one-and-done forward and No. 1 overall draft pick Paolo Banchero, looked superior to the Villanova Wildcats in their closed-door scrimmage, which took place in the Washington Wizards' practice facility. But there was also chatter out there asserting that the Wildcats outperformed the Blue Devils.

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Supposed stats from the action surfaced on social media. And eventually, despite a now-revealed verbal agreement between the programs not to release much information about their preseason tune-up together, both sides posted their own highlights from the meeting.

However, according to the following podcast chat this week between former two-year Duke basketball big man Mark Williams and Villanova product Collin Gillespie, now teammates for the Phoenix Suns, the Blue Devils were ultimately to blame for all the leaked footage. After all, they were the first to release any video, and so it should have come as no surprise that the Wildcats wound up following suit.

Mark Williams and Collin Gillespie going back-and-forth over the Duke-Villanova secret scrimmage footage leaking is hilarious 😂 pic.twitter.com/fexRPo8EJR
— TheOldManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) January 2, 2026

"It was supposed to be no media access," Williams confirmed during their talk on The Old Man and The Three, "and then — somehow, some way — stats came out. We won the game, so..."

When Williams said that last sentence with a sly grin, Gillespie had to interject.

"No, this was crazy," Gillespie noted about Williams' comment. "After the game, they were like, 'Yo, don't post anything from the game...blah, blah, blah. And Duke, bro, puts out their footage. They put out clips, so we were like, 'All right, we're putting out clips.'"

Of course, each version of the events was admittedly biased when it came to which team was portrayed as the victor in what was, more or less, just a glorified practice for both to simulate various game-like situations versus a quality opponent.

Duke Basketball Enters the Chat

"It was just snippets," the Blue Devils' social media team wrote, adding a couple of laughing emojis in reposting that portion of the dialogue between Williams and Gillespie on Friday evening.

It was just snippets 😆🤷‍♂️😹 https://t.co/IQrSWYPwDA
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 2, 2026

Duke went on to tally a 32-7 overall record that season, reaching the Final Four before falling to the archrival UNC Tar Heels, 81-77, in New Orleans.

Villanova finished 30-8 and was also in that Final Four, losing to the eventual national champion Kansas Jayhawks, 81-65.

As for whether Duke or Villanova "won" on that day over five months earlier, well, beyond fueling good-natured ribbing between the schools, it didn't much matter then and certainly doesn't matter now.

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