Eventful Summer for VCU’s Smart

This is shaping up to be quite an eventful summer for VCU coach Shaka Smart.

The rising star coach left Tuesday for the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Brazil, where he is assisting Team USA and Florida coach Billy Donovan on a staff that also includes Gonzaga’s Mark Few.

And just last month, Smart and his VCU Rams joined the new 16-team Atlantic 10 conference beginning this coming season.

The move should help VCU recruit more talent from the Northeast. They are in the mix for St. Anthony rising senior shooting guard Hallice Cooke, who helped Sports U beat the Playaz Basketball Club Sunday in the 17U gold championship at the Rumble in the Bronx.

The conference change also means the Rams will no longer player their postseason CAA Tournament in Richmond, Va., but will compete in the A-10 Tournament in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

“We certainly enjoyed having our conference tournament in Richmond while were part of the CAA,” Smart told SNY.tv by phone from Colorado Springs, Colo.

“But the decision to move to the Atlantic 10 was so much bigger than where you play your conference tournament. It was a University-wide decision and it affected a lot of people. From our program standpoint, we’re excited about the move. It really presents a terrific challenge for our program.”

The Rams will host 2011 Final 4 opponent Butler as well as Dayton, Fordham, George Washington, La Salle, UMass, Richmond and St. Joe’s.

VCU will visit Charlotte, Duquesne, Rhode Island, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, St. Louis, Temple and Xavier.

“First of all, you’re in a league now with 16 teams,” Smart said. “Right there, that means 15 people are not going to win the league.

“Of those 16 teams, there are a quite a few, maybe even double-digit number of teams that have a legitimate chance to be postseason teams or maybe even NCAA Tournament teams.

“So obviously not that many are going to advance to the NCAA Tournament so it’s going to be very, very competitive and obviously whoever finishes first, second or third is going to have a terrific season. But I think there’s going to be some phenomenal teams that are even fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth.”

Smart and Butler’s Brad Stevens have combined to make three Final Four appearances and are considered two of the brightest young stars in the coaching universe. Now they join a league that includes other young rising star coaches, like Xavier’s Chris Mack, Richmond’s Chris Mooney and first-year Rhody coach Dan Hurley, as well as veterans like Rick Majerus of St. Louis, Fran Dunphy of Temple and Phil Martelli of St. Joe’s.

“I’m definitely excited about some of those coaches,” Smart said. “Certainly for me as a younger guy, a guy like Rick Majerus is one of the top five coaches in America and some great coaches really across the board in this league.”

Now Smart gets to go toe-to-toe with them on a nightly basis.