Skip Prosser turned down a chance last season to coach against Pete Gillen, his former boss and mentor. Tonight, Prosser doesn't have that choice.

        The former Xavier basketball coaches will face each other for the first time as Prosser and his No.14 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (13-3, 3-0) play Gillen's No.10 Virginia Cavaliers (10-2, 1-2) in Charlottesville, Va., in an ACC matchup.

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        “It's something that will be uncomfortable,” said Prosser, who coached under Gillen for eight seasons at Xavier. Prosser left Xavier last year and is in his first season at Wake Forest. Both teams are coming off impressive wins Saturday. Virginia snapped a two-game losing skid at North Carolina 71-67, while Wake Forest has won its last five games, including a 96-55 win over Clemson.

        Gillen coached at Xavier from 1986-94 and gave Prosser his first college coaching job.

        “Honestly, I'd prefer him to not be in the league, but he's at a great program,” Gillen said. “I'd be less than honest if I wanted a former coach and friend to be banging heads with me for two or three times a year.”

        That's what makes Byron Larkin's decision hard: which former Musketeers coach to pull for tonight.

        “I don't know, man,” said Larkin, who played under both coaches from 1984-88. Larkin needed a few seconds to choose sides. “I'm probably going to be rooting a little bit for coach Gillen because he recruited me.”

        This won't be the last game between the coaches. Prosser and Gillen will play home and away games every year — Virginia will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., on Feb. 15 — and they could also meet in the ACC Tournament March 7-10.

        Just a few years ago, the two entered postseason play together.

        In eight seasons, the red-haired duo advanced to the NCAA Tournament seven times.

        Prosser, now 51, left for Loyola in 1993. He returned in 1994 to replace Gillen, who'd left for Providence.

        Prosser said he talked to Gillen, 54, about the move to Wake Forest, but they never discussed playing each other.

        The last time that oppor tunity came up, both coaches were against it.

        Last season, Xavier fans wanted Prosser to host Gillen's Virginia team in the first game at the newly built Cintas Center.

        “Why should one of us have to lose that night?” said Prosser, who said he probably wouldn't be a college coach if not for Gillen, whom he still refers to as "coach.'

        The two met in the late 1970s and became reacquainted years later at a basketball camp in Wheeling, W.Va. Prosser was a high school basketball coach and Gillen a Notre Dame assis tant.

        The two stayed in contact.

        Later, when an assistant's position opened on Gillen's staff, and two candidates turned down the job, Prosser got the call. “I wasn't smart enough to pick him first,” Gillen said.

        Partly due to their time together, both coaches have similar coaching styles: Both are great motivators with teams that like to press and run.

        “That's one of the reasons why I liked to play with them,” Larkin said. “That's what is going to make it a great game to watch.”

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