Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe will make his head-coaching debut against Larry Brown's Bobcats at the Izod Center, marking the first time Brown will coach an NBA game against a player he coached in college.

Vandeweghe played his senior season at UCLA under Brown in 1980, earning All-Pac 10 and Academic All-American honors before being selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the No. 11 pick in the NBA draft.

Although Vandeweghe and the Bruins finished fourth in the Pac 10 in the 1979-80 season, they made it all the way to the NCAA title game before losing to Louisville, 59-54. Vandeweghe averaged 19.5 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game in the 1979-80 season, leading the team in both categories. However, UCLA's 1979-80 season ultimately had to be vacated because of NCAA violations and Brown left the program after the following season to become head coach of the Nets.

Brown coached two seasons at UCLA (1979-81) and five at Kansas (1983-88), but not many of Brown's former college players have gone onto become NBA coaches. In fact, the only player Brown coached in college that went on to become an NBA head coach prior to Vandeweghe is Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard, who was at the helm in Portland for 27 games in the 2004-05 season. Pritchard played for the Jayhawks from 1986-90 and won the NCAA title under Brown in 1988.

Among those on Brown's Kansas coaching staff in the 1987-88 season were assistant coaches Alvin Gentry (current Suns coach) and R.C. Buford (current Spurs general manager) and student assistant Mark Turgeon (current Texas A&M coach).

Ironically, Kansas plays UCLA on Sunday.