Surprise: Smart's next chapter will be in Kansas

For the second time in just over a year, Roosevelt Smart is transferring.

The St. Viator guard, who'd transferred from Palatine last summer, tweeted out that he would be transferring again, this time to Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Air, Kansas.

Smart announced it via Twitter on Thursday and the transfer became official on Friday.

"# Nextchapter," Smart tweeted. "Proud to announce that I will attend Sunrise Christian Academy."

Smart continued in later tweet: "I want to thank Viator for the opportunity, they really helped me become a better person. I met great people that I'll truly miss."

New St. Viator athletic director Marty Jennings, who is in the process of interviewing a new head basketball coach after Mike Howland resigned last month to take on a job as head of basketball operations at Missouri State, said he was shocked at the news.

"I think everyone was surprised when he transfers three days before school starts," Jennings said. "It comes a shock to the system for everybody.

"Roosevelt has to do what he feels is best for him and his family. If the situation is what he feels will allow him to grow as a student and as an athlete and he feels that this situation will aid in his growth that he can't get here, he has to make that decision. For our kids and our school, we move on."

Smart was an all-area guard at Palatine his sophomore year, when he averaged 18.3 points. He transferred to St. Viator last summer and all-area again, averaging 15.6 points along with 3.4 rebounds and 2 assists as he helped the Lions to a regional tile and a 23-6 record.

Smart was the northwest suburban Cook County's top returning player this year. He would have teamed up with Mark Falotico and Pat McNamara to form one of the top backcourt trios in the area at St. Viator.

Sunrise Christian Academy is located in a suburb of Wichita, Kansas. The basketball programs list players from the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Austalia, Nigeria and Serbia as well as two local players on its three-team basketball program. They play a national-level schedule and were ranked 14th by USA Today last season.

Last year, 15 players from the school signed Division I basketball letters of intent. Two of those players ended up at Wichita State, which is one of the schools that reportedly has expressed an interest in Smart after high school.