I haven’t heard VCU coach Shaka Smart specifically claim he turned down Yale and Harvard to go to Division III Kenyon College in the mid-90s, but he sure as heck was implying that to be the case in national broadcast interviews leading to the Final Four.

So we asked two of the Yale assistant coaches to Dick Kuchen at the time, and neither current coach James Jones, nor current Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell had heard of Shaka Smart before he got into the coaching ranks.

Both Jones and Pikiell asked the same question. What constitutes being recruited by Yale and Harvard? A form letter, or something as preliminary as that?

Not that Wikipedia is any bible of accuracy, but the online site has bought into the exaggeration lock, stock and barrel, claiming in Smart’s bio that “after graduating high school, Smart turned down both Harvard and Yale to attend Kenyon College.”