Possibly, but I wouldn't assume any connection. In sociological terms, modern universities are mid-last-millennium noble houses*, locked in an endless competition for power, wealth, prestige, and influence. Adding a few stanzas of hyperbole when bragging about one of their knights vanquishing some infidel of ignorance? That's simply how things are done.

*Yes, there's never really a king or duke or whatever. But consider the history of the word regent.