I can understand turning down UCLA. 1) Lots of pressure and very high expectations at UCLA, and B) Smart has no knowledge of or experience with recruiting on the West coast. I believe only one of his players at VCU is not from the Eastern time zone, and that guy is from exurban Nashville, TN. He at least has some knowledge of the Midwest landscape and likely has more connections in the Midwest. And like RockCo said, where are the four-star kids from Chicago going to go? The five-star kids will go wherever (Duke, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, etc.), but the four-star kids aren't going to go to DePaul or Northwestern. And Illinois plays in an arena that was built in 1963; Marquette plays in an NBA arena. Not the best NBA arena, but still an NBA arena and way better than the State Farm Center. Where is a recruit going to want to play - an NBA arena, or a "hall" built in 1963? ESPN is reporting that Wake Forest has reached out to Smart too. Just because Wake was successful back in the day of Tim Duncan and Chris Paul means about the same as Marquette playing off of the days of Dwayne Wade. Wake has only been to the tourney twice in the last nine years. Wake plays in the ACC. And coaches that can recruit can recruit anywhere.